A Spark's Haven
by Lunar Mist
Summary: They were the last of the seekers on Cybertron and the only Autobot seekers alive. With a rough transition to Earth, the three set out to help in a war that had torn their world apart. Sunstreaker/OC/Jazz
1. Teaser

And so it begins...

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Teaser

598 words

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War.

It was a nightmare that was known everywhere. It tore families apart. It ravaged whole landscapes. It leveled cities. People were slaughtered, and children were turned into orphans. Kids were born into violence, knowing only pain and fear. Young adults who have no business killing were forced to become warriors. Elderly that should be relaxing and playing with grandchildren were forced to fight alongside the young in a vain effort to save what was left of the community. This particular war had not only done all of this. No, it had accomplished far more than just that.

This war had destroyed a whole planet.

Cybertron was the name of the planet. It was once a great planet that housed a great people. Technology at its finest with electricity powered by energon, a source of energy that can be harnessed by few other creatures. The beings on the planet were strictly non-biological, yet they were alive in every sense of the word. They could feel love, happiness, hate, pain, and grief. They could make their own decisions and had the ability to act on those decisions. None of them were exactly alike. Sure, some had twins, but they weren't the same in behavior, even if they were in looks. These Cybertronians came in many different sizes, and they each had their own personality. They lived, and they died, something that was easily proved by the many dead bodies that spotted the planet's floor.

The sad thing was this planet had been so lively. The people had been happy beings. Well, perhaps if one took a closer look, they would see that they weren't happy as much as they were… resigned to their lot in life. The Decepticon leader and High Lord Protectorate, Megatron, had seen fit to use that dissatisfaction to his advantage to start a war. A war that would ravish the planet. Optimus Prime, the current Prime of the planet, rose up in retaliation, desperate to defend the weak and innocent. The planets around them avoided the conflict, barring all refuge for the Cybertronians, fearful that the giant robots would bring their war to their own planets. Death and suffering became common on the planet. Those who desired to remain neutral ended up choosing a side in retaliation. Children hid away from the warring factions, fearful of what fate would befall them.

Then there was a sort of salvation. The battle took place in Tyger Pax, a well-known and extremely wealthy city-state. The Autobots and Decepticons didn't hold back anything as they fought for the Allspark, a life-giving cube. Megatron demanded to know where the cube was, torturing and threatening the noble Autobots in an attempt to force the answer from one of them. He didn't receive an answer, though, before the cube was launched into space. Megatron was enraged, and after removing the vocal processor of a yellow scout bot, he rushed into space after the precious cube. That was the last most Autobots saw of the tyrant.

A lot of lives were lost there and in Simfur, where a similarly brutal battle had taken place. Survivors were round up and treated, and those who were unlucky enough to offline there… well, there wasn't enough time to bury them properly. And so the planet slowly lost its inhabitants. Autobots left in search for the Allspark, and the Decepticons followed after. A few Autobots stayed on the planet, hiding from the few Decepticons that roamed the streets in small groups. This was just the beginning, though. After all, times couldn't stay bad forever, could they?


	2. Prologue

1) So that y'all know, these chapters will get longer. Promise. :)

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Prologue

2,974 words

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Things couldn't stay this bad forever.

That was the phrase repeating in her processor as she peered over the edge of the tall, yet short building. The roof was only about fifty feet off the ground, a one story building that had once served as a café for more wealthy people; however, to a ten-foot-tall youngling, that was a long, long drop. She wiggled her growing wings a little as she gauged the distance to the distant junk pile on the ground. Developing thrusters lit up as she jumped off, slowing her descent. She landed soundlessly in a crouch and sprinted across the deserted street. The Seekling turned sharply down an alleyway and made her way to the latest battleground, hoping to find some form of life. She had heard the gunshots from the Loft, a place in lower Praxus where she was living with another youngling, Bluestreak. Gunshots meant two foes, and two foes meant that at least one had to be an Autobot… hopefully. She wasn't kidding herself. There was a big chance that one Decepticon pissed off another one, causing a fire fight. But if that were the case, she'd just go back to the Loft.

"Foolish Autobot. Your bravery will be your end!" a deep voice crowed. The Seeker femling sped up before dropping down to hide behind a dead Decepticon body as she surveyed the scene before her. The Autobot was obviously a medic, a fact proven by the red and white armor that marked every Autobot medic. A blue visor covered his optics, and a dented white facemask protected his mouthplates. Energon was leaking from little cuts across his body, and it flowed from a gunshot wound on his right shoulder. A small stream of the stuff was flowing from the bottom of his facemask, proving that it hadn't done its job. The two fallen Decepticon bodies were proof that the 'bot had been ambushed. A scowled marred the Seekling's face. Without thinking twice, she pulled a sniper rifle from subspace. The gun accessed her transformation cog and joined with her arm, completely replacing her arm from the elbow joint down. A black visor snapped down over her red optics and connected with her targeting systems as she aimed. She hesitated for a klik. She hadn't ever shot to kill. Heck, her aim wasn't very good to start out with. What if she missed and hit the Autobot on accident?

"Die, Autobot scum!" the Decepticon cried out melodramatically, aiming his own plasma pistol at the Autobot's spark chamber.

"No!" the Seeker femme gasped, and she shot. The Decepticon's shoulder jerked before a fountain of energon exploded from it.

"Fraggit!" he roared. His red optics landed on her immediately, and she gasped as she jumped to her pedes and made a break for the junk pile a few yards away. "Fraggin' Seeker!" he snarled. A few shots rang out.

"Ow!" she yelped as fire exploded through her right thigh. She screamed in agony when another shot ripped through the right side of her torso. She collapsed just as another shot grazed her right wing, sending her sensors into a fritz. Her systems forced her gun to transform back into subspace with the knowledge that she didn't have enough energon to make any more ammo. Slag, it hurt so bad! Another shot rang out, followed by a pained bellow, before a final shot silenced the area.

"Are you okay?" a voice called out. The voice was gentle, a silent promise to protect. The femling moaned in pain.

"Hurts," she called back weakly. She heard heavy footsteps and turned her head to see the medic slowly dropping to the ground beside her.

"It's going to be alright. My teammates are on their way here right now," the medic promised. He managed a gentle smile. "That was a pretty good shot," he praised.

"Nuh-uh," the femme said weakly. "I was aimin' for the spark." The medic chuckled.

"Then aim for the shoulder next time. Maybe you'll hit the spark," he said as he started checking her wounds. "No, no, stay awake. Talk to me. My designation is First Aid. What's yours?"

"Skyshock. I'm Skyshock," she whispered, wincing at the temporary patches First Aid was putting on her wounds to staunch the energon flow. "Are you a medic?"

"Yes, I am. Are you a Seeker?"

"Yeah. The last femme Seeker."

"That's quite a feat, being strong enough to be the last of your kind."

"I have ta take care a' Bluestreak. Can't afford ta offline. I'll die 'vent'ally anyways. No Seekers equals no trine bond," the femling replied cynically.

"Maybe the Autobots can give you a reason to live," First Aid offered as he removed an energon ration from his subspace.

"I doubt it. When's yo'r friend gonna get 'ere? C'n ya fix meh up quickly? I'm s'posed ta be home soon. Blue'll freak out."

"Who _is_ Bluestreak? I don't recognize that designation. Is he another Seeker youngling?" the medic questioned as he allowed her to refuel in small sips.

"Not a Seeker. Praxian. He's back at the Loft, waitin' for meh t' report."

"I see. Well, I'm gonna take you back to our small base for medical treatment, and I'll send one of my partners to find Bluestreak."

"No! You'll scare 'im. I 'ave ta get 'im," Skyshock argued. "He saw 'is creators offlined. He don't trust strangers."

"I see…" the medic said slowly.

"Please. I c'n get'cha t' the Loft. We still 'ave a groon 'til the next p'trol comes through, an' we c'n make it there an' back in two breems," she pleaded. First Aid gave a sigh, not really wanting to move around in plain sight, but he had no choice. He didn't want the mechling to freak out and run away.

"Very well. Direct me," he said as he tossed the empty cube away and gently lifted her up. The medic frowned at her light weight. She must not get a lot of energon. Not a good sign, especially with two serious wounds. He had managed to stop the energon flow, but her body would have had to use some of her energon to make the ammo for her sniping rifle. He scowled, mentally praying that Blades got there quickly.

Skyshock, it turns out, wasn't very good at giving directions. In fact, her directions consisted of "Turn tha' way" and "This doesn't look f'miliar. We should pro'ly turn around." By the time they reached "the Loft", which was nothing more than a broken-down housing unit with a single berth and tons of dust, the two breems had come and gone. First Aid grimaced as he walked into the building.

"Hey, Blue! I go' shot an' found a Autobot medic!" the femling in his arms called out suddenly. There was a moment of silence before a gray door-winger stumbled into the room. In complete contrast to his name, the only bit of blue on the mech was in his optics. His developing armor was mostly light gray. His thighs were protected by red armor that didn't match the rest of his armor in the least, and his chest sported a single thick stripe of black paint. His forehelm was adorned by the traditional Praxian forked chevron, red in color. His wings rose in curiosity, stiffening in fear as they did so.

"H-Who is this, Sky?" the youngling stuttered out, his optics fixed on the medic.

"This's First Aid. He's a Autobot medic," she informed him bluntly. Bluestreak frowned.

"What does he want?"

"I'm going to–"

"I didn't ask you, Autobot," Bluestreak interrupted, scowling. First Aid frowned as Skyshock spoke for him.

"He's gonna fix my hurt," she stated matter-a-factly. "Ge' the import'nt stuffs, 'cuz we gotta jet." Bluestreak hesitated for only an astrosecond. He pointed at his own optics before turning the same hand to First Aid to let the medic know that he was keeping a close optic on the elder's movements. With his warning given, the youngling scurried into the other room. First Aid took that moment to study the femme in his arms.

She was only about nine and a half feet tall, rather short for a Seeker youngling. The armor on her lower arms and legs was light gray. Black armor covered the rest of her protoform, aside from her pedes, which were red. First Aid surmised that they had stolen the paint and had just been forced to make do with what they had. The femling's wings were both black with a single red strip across the top part of each delta wing. A bunch of what appeared to be sensory wires fell from the crown of her head. The thick wires went down to her lower back, and at the very end of each one was what looked like a spear.

"I c'n move 'em." A female voice broke through his musings. His optics met hers, and he realized he had been caught studying the extensions rather closely. "They're where I got mah des'gnation. I c'n wrap 'em 'round stuffs," she began, demonstrating her skill by making the thick wires slither up his arm like Medusa's snakes, "an' I c'n make 'lectricity shoot through 'em." She let the wires go limp and drop back down. "The spears a' the end keep meh fr'm 'lectrocutin' mahself, an' I c'n also use 'em ta cut the bad guys. They're really, really s'ns'tive, so it really 'urts when they're cut off, an' it feels weird when bots touch 'em withou' me knowin'. I only le' Blue handle 'em when they break, 'cuz 'e don't make 'em feel weird."

"Ah," First Aid said unintelligently.

**::First Aid, where the slag are you?::** the impatient voice of Blades filtered through the medic's comm. link.

**::Transmitting coordinates::** was First Aid's reply. Bluestreak trotted back into the room and moved to stand in front of First Aid.

"I can hold her," the mechling stated. First Aid blinked.

"Perhaps, but I think it would be best if I held her for now," the soft-spoken medic replied.

"I don't. Hand her over!" the door-winger ordered.

"Blue, I'm okay. Jus' don't leave meh," Skyshock said, her wires reaching in his direction. Bluestreak scowled, but moved forward to meet the tendrils. He held an arm up and let the wires wrap around his forearm, allowing the Seeker to be comforted by the contact.

"Blades is here. Let's go, you two," First Aid ordered gently, moving toward the door. Bluestreak followed closely, still attached to the femme. The loud _whup-whup-whup-whup_ of rotor blades filled the air, and Bluestreak knew that if Skyshock wasn't holding onto him, he'd be running for the Loft.

"Sky?" he called out hesitantly. "I'm not so sure 'bout this…"

"I'm not either, but I'm dyin', Blue. We need 'em righ' now," was the reply. Bluestreak whimpered as they approached the red and white helicopter. The door opened as First Aid didn't hesitate to put Skyshock inside. The Praxian slowly climbed in, lying down on the floor of the Autobot's alt. mode beside his femme friend.

"Be careful with them, Blades," the medic ordered as the helicopter took off. There was a light jerk when First Aid grabbed onto the 'copter's landing gear with his good arm, and the bot designated "Blades" lifted the three passengers into the air, flying a swiftly as possible. The flight, in reality, wasn't as long as Bluestreak would later swear it was; however, by the time they arrived, the sensory wires wrapped around the youngling's arm were limp, and the femme lying beside him was in stasis lock. The helicopter landed with ease on a hidden pad, which turned out to be a sort of elevator to an underground base. Bluestreak huddled closer to the femme's left side, somehow taking comfort in her presence, even if she would be unable to defend him. First Aid's face appeared in Bluestreak's line of sight.

"Ready to go?" the medic asked. Bluestreak hesitated for a second before he nodded and started climbing out of the helicopter bot. First Aid smiled down at the gray mechling as he reached over him and lifted the femme out of his comrade's cargo space. The second they were clear, Blades transformed. Bluestreak's optics went wide as he stared up at the twenty seven-foot-tall mech wrecker. The two helicopter blades hung from the mech's back, and the landing gear decorated his arms, making the limbs look even bigger. Red armor covered the mech's chest and legs. His arms and helm were painted white, and his battle-hardened optics were icy blue. The nine-foot-tall mechling stared up at the mech with wide optics.

"Hey, kid," Blades greeted gruffly. Bluestreak scrambled backwards into First Aid's legs and wrapped his hand around a handful of Skyshock's sensory wires, seeking comfort. "Let's go before the 'Cons see us." With that, the landing pad suddenly started descending into the ground. A strip of metal shifted above them and covered the large hole caused by the descending helicopter pad. Darkness reigned for a few astroseconds before being chased away by lightbeams from Blades' and First Aid's chest plates. The pad came to an abrupt stop, and the three mechs made their way to a metal door. First Aid and Bluestreak walked through first, and Blades trailed behind. The mechling clicked as he examined his surroundings. The base was easily forty feet tall, obviously made to accommodate the tall mechs. The halls were a simple gray color, only a few shades darker than he was. There were multiple halls, but the hall they were walking down led to the medbay.

"Now, you go with Blades while I work on Skyshock," First Aid ordered to Bluestreak.

"No. I'm not leaving her," Bluestreak replied stubbornly as he stood beside the berth that Skyshock was being placed on.

"You need energon, and Blades can take you to get some," First Aid reasoned.

"I can refuel here."

"Or you can go with Blades. You don't want to be here while I'm performing surgery on your friend."

"Yes, I do. I gotta stay an' make sure you don't hurt 'er," the mechling said, releasing Skyshock's wires to cross his arms. First Aid gave a small sigh, but decided to acquiesce.

"Very well. Sit over there while Blades gets you some low grade," he ordered, pointing to a seat by the wall. Bluestreak nodded once as he scurried over to the chair and scrambled up onto it. He plopped down and stared at Blades as the large mech rolled his optics and walked away, having obviously just finished having an internal argument with the medic. Bluestreak looked at First Aid as he hooked his best friend up to an energon line and gave her a shot of sedatives to ensure that she slept through the whole procedure. He watched as the medic took off the first field patch. A small bit of energon streamed from the wound, but all-in-all, it wasn't as bad as when it happened. The patches had kept it under control. Bluestreak's optics dimmed a little as he watched. It was late, definitely past his and Skyshock's unofficial recharge-time. Maybe he could get _just a little_ recharge in before Skyshock woke up. Then he could talk with her more… Yeah. Just a few kliks…

By the time Blades came back with the energon, Bluestreak was fast asleep.

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"Blue?" a small voice whispered. Bluestreak shifted a little as he received the strangest feeling on his right arm. It was as if something was crawling up it… His optics onlined, and he looked down at the arm to find that there were, indeed, thick wires crawling up it. He groaned tiredly as he turned his head to the right and stared into dim red optics. Huh. Someone must have put him on the berth beside Skyshock while he was recharging.

"Hi, Sky. How're ya feeling?" he murmured as he cuddled closer to her.

"Tired," she whispered. "I 'ad a night terror."

"Oh. Well, I'm here, so you don't hafta be afraid." Skyshock giggled. Footsteps were heard, and a second later, First Aid walked into the bay.

"Ah. You're awake," he observed with a smile. Bluestreak frowned and looked over at medic as he walked in with one of his comrades. The new mech was just a little taller than First Aid, and his primary colors were light blue and black, with a bit of red on his chest. The two mechs stopped right beside the berth, causing Bluestreak to hide his helm in Skyshock's side. He didn't like all these strange mechs being nearby, Autobot or not.

"Hello. I'm Hot Spot," the new mech greeted with a smile. "I'm the Commanding Officer here."

"So, you're like Optimus Prime?" Skyshock asked in confusion, not quite understanding how much power a Commanding Officer would have. Hot Spot chuckled, his blue optics glinting in amusement.

"I don't have quite that much power. I'm just in charge of my Protectobots."

"Oh. I'm Skyshock. I'm in charge a' Bluestreak."

"Are not!" Bluestreak protested. His optics met Hot Spot's, and the mechling quickly went back into hiding. The Protectobot leader chuckled.

"It's nice to meet you, Skyshock. First Aid tells me that you are the one that saved him from a Decepticon patrol."

"Yeah, then I got shot," she told him bluntly. "It don't hurt no more."

"Well, that's good. I've got a question for you, though," Hot Spot stated. Skyshock cocked her head as she made optic contact. "What would you say if I told you that you are welcome to live here until the war ends?" Skyshock gasped, optics wide, while Bluestreak simply looked over at the mech.

"You'd let us stay 'ere?" she asked, sounding very excited.

"I would be honored."

And so began their stay with the Protectobots.

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Well, this is all for today! Hope I got y'all interested, and hope to see some of my Cybercat fans over here. :)

Review!


	3. 1: Explorers

1) Okay, I led some of y'all to the wrong conclusion. Skyshock's accent in the last chapter is simply that of a child who hasn't been around a lot of adults that had well-defined speech. So, it's not so much of accent as it is a child cutting off words to make them pronouncible. As you will see, that accent will fade away as she spends time with the Protectobots.

2) Please understand something... the Protectobots are taking the place of the Wreckers in my life right now... and that's really hard... because my version of the Protectobots is polar opposite of my version of the Wreckers. In fact, my Wreckers and my Protectobots hate each other, which is something that you will see in this fic. So, please understand that the Protectobots will be present in this whole fic :)

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Chapter 1

Explorers

3,798 words

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It wasn't easy – for the Protectobots that is – but they managed. The two younglings were taught hand-to-hand combat by Blades, they were tutored in mathematics, philosophy, and history by Groove, they learned basic repairs under First Aid's gentle guidance, and the two were taught to use their sniping rifles with the help of Streetwise. The base, they discovered, was actually a living Cybertronian known as Metroplex. Metroplex housed three other bots, but Bluestreak and Skyshock rarely saw them. The other three bots mostly hung out in the restricted areas, areas that only they had access to, considering they were literally a part of Metroplex (First Aid called them symbiotes, but Blades picked the two younglings up before the medic could further explain what that was). First Aid said that Metroplex was what was known as a cityformer. The mech was once used to counteract an enemy cityformer by the name of Trypticon, but once the Decepticon cityformer had been offlined, Metroplex had gone into hiding as the Protectobot's base.

Skyshock thought the bots they were living with were amazing, and she loved being around them. Bluestreak, however, often worried that the Protectobots would become angered at them for some reason or another and abandon them after deciding that they weren't worth the effort. He was always afraid that they would tire of Skyshock's innate ability to wander off and find trouble. The femling had always been the adventurous type, and Bluestreak, being the protective, though skittish, mech he was, always trailed after her, only thinking of her safety and the trouble they were undoubtedly going to get in once their caretakers noticed their absence at the base.

"Blue! Hurry up!"

This was one of those times.

"Coming, Sky," he called back. The two younglings were midway through their youngling hood, though both almost ready to become young adults. At the moment, they were moving through the ruins of the city-state known as Protihex. Junk piles and dead bodies filled the streets, but having grown up with that, it no longer bothered the pair. They sneaked around silently, being careful for any Decepticon patrols. The wire sensors that flowed from the crown of Skyshock's helm moved all around, taking in data and searching for enemy spark signals as they explored the uninhabited city-state. Bluestreak's sensory panels in his doorwings were doing much of the same thing, only he was quite a bit twitchier than the femme.

"Blue, let's go inside," the thirteen foot femme whispered over her shoulder as she stepped up to one of the adobe-styled houses. The inside was just as forsaken as the outside. Bluestreak followed his best friend dutifully as she moved room to room, picking up and subspacing pretty things that caught her optic. This was a common practice for her, something she had done for as long as he had known her. The one time he had ever said something was when they were in what had once been an art museum, back when they had only known each other for a few orns. Skyshock had found a small metal cube that was supposed to be a mini-version of the Allspark. Instead of the Language of the Primes decorating the sides, the glyphs were written in Iacon's dialect of Cybertronian. The glyphs were all positive attributes that warriors were supposed to have: bravery, kindness, love, compassion, understanding, strength, honor, and other such adjectives. The rest of the room had been completely destroyed, but the cube had been made of the finest Cybertonium, keeping it from melting. In one of the corners of the cube, there were two small glyphs that were rather inconspicuous, but they were there nonetheless. The glyphs were the signature of the artist that had created the cube.

Sunstreaker.

It was a name that she learned to love. Most of the pretty things she found in the museums and art galleries they had explored had those glyphs on it. Just like every other trip, she took what she liked, which consisted of a necklace, the cube, and a small set of decorative bracelets. Bluestreak had seen her putting the cube into her subspace and had immediately sprung into action.

"Sky! Dat stuff no yours! Put back!" he had cried in his small voice. Skyshock had stared at the youngling, who had just gotten out of his sparkling years.

"They no comin' back. They no care if they no know," she stated. Bluestreak's doorlets fluttered as he thought it through. He found no flaw in her logic, so he allowed her to do as she pleased.

This time was no different. Bluestreak stood back and allowed his friend to explore, not speaking against her actions as she subspaced random items that she thought were interesting. After all, the people who lived here were most likely settled on another planet, or they were offline. Bluestreak looked through some of the holocubes, finding image stills of a smiling femme being held closely to a laughing mech. He picked up a different holocube and found that it was of the same couple, only this time, their lip plates were pressed together. The meaning of this was lost on Bluestreak, though, so he shrugged and put the cube back down.

"Are you ready to go back to base, yet? Metroplex has probably already told them we're missing, and Blades is gonna offline us if he has to hunt us down again, and I don't wanna die," Blue called out.

"He won't offline us, Blue, and Metroplex was in recharge when we left," Skyshock replied with a roll of her optics.

"That doesn't mean much if he wakes up and sees us gone. They'll just kick us out. I don't wanna live on the streets again. There's Decepticons everywhere, and they're probably out right now, just looking for unsuspecting Autobot younglings, like us. What if they capture us? We don't even know anything, and they'd torture us to try and get information, but we won't know anything, so we'll just die in agony, and then–"

"Blue!" Skyshock interrupted. Bluestreak went silent as he looked over at the Seeker. "Chill. Nobody comes around here anymore. Decepticons will be raiding the ruins of Iacon and Praxus, not some little Podunk town like this. Now let's keep moving. I saw a really big building at the end of the main travel road," Skyshock chirped as she bounded to the back door. Bluestreak gave a long-suffering sigh as he followed after her with nowhere near as much enthusiasm. That changed the second he stepped outside. The two moved through the back alleyways with grins on their faceplates as they sprinted to hide behind junk piles and rolled behind dilapidated walls. They were acting like spies. Skyshock was always Jazz, a mech she had read about in one of the old news-screens, and Bluestreak was always Mirage, a talented mech that, rumor has it, could become completely invisible to the world around him.

"We're almost to our target, Agent Mirage," Skyshock whispered through their comm. link.

"Gotcha, Lieutenant Jazz," Bluestreak replied. "What are we gonna do now? Are we gonna sneak through the front entrance, or are we gonna make our _own_ entrance, or are we gonna climb through one of the windows, or–"

"Blue, I mean, Agent Mirage! Mute it, or we'll be captured," Skyshock hissed.

"Yes, sir!" he chirped as he followed her through a side entrance. The two 'bots slowed as they walked past a lobby, subconsciously dropping their playful game.

"It looks like a school or something," Skyshock murmured. Bluestreak peeked into one of the windows.

"It looks like Aid's medbay in here," he called over to her. Skyshock cocked her head as she moved on to another room.

"Nur-ser-ry," she read slowly from the plaque beside the door, carefully sounding out the glyph. "Huh," she hummed. Curiosity took hold, and she gingerly opened the door. She whistled in wonder as she took in the room. It was very large and contained five long rows of cribs. She peered over the edge of each one as she moved farther inside. A few had offlined sparklings, something that made Skyshock cringe, but most were empty. She walked around idly and paused when she came upon two bodies that were on a table.

Seeker younglings. Her optics widened for a second as she trotted closer. The bodies, she could tell had never held sparks before. Most likely, they had been made to hold a spark that was ready to upgrade into a bigger body, but the center was probably attacked before the sparklings could be transferred.

"I found out where we are," Bluestreak said, suddenly beside her. Skyshock jumped a little before looking to her right at the Praxian. She hadn't heard him come in. "It's called the Protihex Medical Mechanics University. Look at what I found." He lifted up two datapads, and Skyshock gingerly took them from his hands.

"_Medical Journal 012: Junior Medic Ratchet"_ was the title on the back of the pad. She cocked her head as she flipped over the other pad to find out what it contained. _"Medical Journal 145: Junior Medic First Aid."_ She gasped.

"First Aid went here!" she exclaimed, suddenly much more interested in the rundown building. "Let's see what else we can find!" She put the datapads in her subspace pocket.

"Yeah!" Bluestreak agreed. The two started toward the door, but Skyshock paused, looking back forlornly at the Seeker bodies. It wasn't fair that she didn't get to have a trine bond. She wasn't stupid. She knew her spark would start calling out for such a bond as soon as she got into her final frame, something that was inevitably coming closer. Slowly, without the bond, she'd slip into depression. Finally, she'd simply fade away. It wasn't something she looked forward to, yet she knew there was no way to stop it. Without a trine, a Seeker felt useless. That was why most Seeklets were teamed up shortly after birth. Skyshock sighed sadly as she placed her hand into that of the offline Seeker's.

"It's not fair that I have to be alone," she whimpered as she stared at the silver body. "It's not fair." Then she felt it. Her spark lit up and started reaching out. The hand around hers suddenly clenched, and the Seeker's body arched upwards as its chest lit up blue. "Oh, slag! Ohslagohslag_ohslag_!" she cried out as she tried to jump back. What did she do? What was going on? It was like a slaggin' horror film!

"**Do not fear. I have given you your wish. Take care of him. He has lived and died in horror."** The voice came from absolutely nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time. The hand tightened even more, and blue optics lit up.

"You wanna piece of me? You wanna piece?" the mech suddenly yelled. A visor snapped over his optics, and he leapt to his feet, pulling Skyshock behind him. Then he froze and looked around. "Where… am I?" he whispered.

"Protihex," Skyshock supplied, her voice breathless. The silver Seeker frowned and turned around to look at her. He froze again when his optics landed on her.

"Yo're the one tha' I was dreamin' 'bout," he stated as he studied her. "Bu' I don' unduhstand. All I remembuh is lots a' pain… an' you." His optics brightened behind his visor as he looked at the femme before him. "You called meh back."

"I… did?" she questioned. The mechling grinned.

"Yeah. Ya did. I don' remembuh where I came fr'm, though," he replied, his grin slowly disappearing.

"Well, I'm Skyshock," she introduced, holding out a servo.

"The designation's Jazz," the mechling replied, taking the femme's servo in his own and giving her a charming grin. Skyshock's optics widened at the familiar designation.

"Hey, Sky?" Bluestreak's voice called out hesitantly as he walked back into the room, looking around for his lost best friend. "I came back 'cuz I didn't know you weren't following me, and I didn't want you to…" His optics narrowed when they landed on Jazz's form, which was hovering way too close to Skyshock for his taste. A small ball of jealousy rose up in his spark. Skyshock was _his_ best friend, and how dare this new mechling stand so close to her! "Who are _you_?" the Praxian snapped.

"I'm Jazz," the silver Seekling stated. "Who're you?"

"I'm Bluestreak, Skyshock's _best_ friend," the doorwinger snapped. Jazz's grin darkened to what could be called territorial.

"Tha's okay, 'cuz she's _my_ trine leaduh," Jazz claimed. Skyshock cocked her head as she studied her spark. Well, what do ya know! He was in her trine! Her optics lit up in excitement, and she pounced on Jazz from the side. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she squealed in excitement.

"I have a trine bond! I'm not gonna die!" she cheered. She couldn't see Jazz's triumphant smirk that was aimed in Bluestreak's direction, but she did feel him rubbing her back. She looked over at Bluestreak. "C'mon! Let's take some of these bodies with us! Maybe I can make one of 'em come to life like I did with Jazz!"

"Sure," Bluestreak said idly, still fighting back his jealousy.

"I c'n hold more th'n one," Jazz claimed as he lifted up the Seeker youngling body that had been beside him.

"Yeah, but can you hold it while we keep exploring?" Bluestreak challenged as he gently grabbed the body of a flight-capable sparkling. Skyshock rolled her optics as she picked up the body of a sparkling doorwinger.

"'Course I c'n," Jazz replied confidently.

"C'mon, you two. I bet 'Aid knows that we're gone by now," Skyshock chided as she moved to stand by Bluestreak. The Praxian froze at her words and unconsciously grabbed a handful of wires as he held the sparkling in the other hand. Skyshock didn't take notice, seeing as her sensory wires were accustomed to Bluestreak's touch by now, but her new trinemate narrowed his optics behind his visor.

"Lead the way, Sky," Jazz ordered. Skyshock nodded and grinned as she moved toward the door, the two mechs following close behind her, one holding her sensory wires. The other rooms looked very much alike, very few differing. Halfway through their exploration, they reached the part of the building that had suffered during the attack. The roof was completely collapsed, and the rest of the building was obviously inaccessible. Pity.

"Guess this is where we turn around and head back to the base," Skyshock mumbled. Bluestreak nodded and opened his mouth to speak when First Aid's voice came over his and Skyshock's comm. links, mixed in with Blades' irritated voice.

**::Where are you two? I told you not to leave base.:: -First Aid**

**::Yeah! You better still be in Praxus because I ain't coming to get you!:: -Blades**

**::You **_**will**_** retrieve them, Blades.:: -First Aid**

**::I will not! I went to get them the last seven times. **_**You**_** go get 'em.:: -Blades**

**::Blades…Retrieve the younglings:: -Metroplex**

**::See, Blades? Even Metroplex agrees with me.:: -First Aid**

**::Slaggin opinionated city.:: -Blades**

**::I heard that. Mind yourself. You may find yourself barricaded outside.::** **-Metroplex**

**::We're on our way back right now. No reason for anyone to get us.:: -Skyshock**

**::You could get attacked, Skyshock.::** **-First Aid**

**::You should not have left. You know better. Hot Spot desires your presence as soon as you arrive.::** **-Metroplex**

**::Aw, slag!::** Bluestreak and Skyshock groaned at the same time.

**::You know the rules, younglings,::** **-First Aid**

**::Fine. Hey, Aid, we found your old school. We found a journal,:: -Bluestreak**

Skyshock grinned. He was trying to divert their attention by changing the subject. Crafty mech.

**::You went all the way to Protihex?:: -Blades**

Skyshock scoffed as she led the way down the street.

**::It's not as if it's extremely far away. Only a breem, flying.::** **-Skyshock **

As she said this, she wrapped an arm around Bluestreak's waist, and he wrapped one around her neck.

"Hey, Jazz, you think you can fly without instruction? I can databurst the important stuff then train you when we get to base," Skyshock called over.

**/Sure thing, lightspark,/** came a voice into her spark. Said spark fluttered excitedly at the contact. She had a trine bond! She resisted the urge to do a happy dance since Bluestreak was in her grasp.

**/Then let's go,/** she replied back, her giddiness flowing over the new bond. She sent him a databurst and activated her heel thrusters. She went slowly, carefully holding Bluestreak close to her body. Jazz followed after her, having only a little difficulty with his new systems.

**::I'm approaching your coordinates. You have an unknown spark signal following you,::** **-Blades**

**::I know. He's my new trinemate.::** **-Skyshock **

There was a sort of incredulous silence on the comm.

**::…Say that again?:: -Blades**

**::He's my new wingmate. His designation's Jazz. He doesn't remember a lot about his past, just pain. He woke up yelling about having a piece of him. It was really scary at first, but then he was really nice.:: -Skyshock**

**::…Uh…huh…:: -Blades**

The sound of helicopter blades filled the air, and a second later, Blades was flying beside her in his alt. mode.

**::We're gonna have a nice long talk with Hot Spot when we get back, Skyshock.:: -Blades**

The Seeker groaned, but gave an acknowledging chirp. The moment they stepped inside Metroplex, the door locked behind them. Jazz, not expecting the door to be able to move by itself, jumped in surprise. Before he could question anything, though, First Aid and Hot Spot appeared from around a corner and strode up to them. Bluestreak visibly shrank back behind his best friend, whereas Jazz took a protective step in front of her, effectively taking the attention off of her.

"Who is this, Skyshock?" First Aid asked.

"This is my new trinemate, Jazz," she introduced hesitantly. The two Protectobots raised their optic ridges.

"Trinemate?" First Aid repeated at the same moment Hot Spot said, "Jazz?"

"Yup. He can't remember a lot," Skyshock replied.

"And the protoforms in your servos…?" First Aid prodded.

"Well, Jazz wasn't alive when I walked in, but then he just…was. So we took some more protoforms, just in case another one of them decides to wake up," the femme stated. There was a beat of silence.

"So, Jazz came to life from being a sparkless protoforms _without_ a creator?" First Aid questioned slowly.

"Pretty much," Skyshock chirped.

"Primus, my logic circuits are gonna fry," Hot Spot mumbled.

"We're lucky Prowl isn't here," First Aid added. He looked over at Jazz. "Well, mech, I would like to check your systems to make sure this miraculous experience hasn't strained your systems. I can run your spark signal through the systems and see what we come up with."

"While you're doing that, Bluestreak and Skyshock will be with me in my office," Hot Spot stated. Bluestreak hid behind his friend and wrapped a hand around her sensory wires in comfort. Skyshock smiled sheepishly at the Protectobot leader, but the smile fell as he turned and walked away. Skyshock sighed as she trudged after him dejectedly, Bluestreak trailing after her like a puppy on a leash. Jazz looked up at First Aid.

"'E's not gonna hurt 'er, is 'e?" Jazz questioned, preparing to follow his new trine leader.

"Of course not. He'll probably give her a long lecture on trust and safety. If there's one thing to be said about our leader, Hot Spot, it's that he has an extremely soft spot for those two younglings," First Aid replied with a gentle smile. "Now, let's get you checked over."

* * *

Skyshock moaned as she walked out of Hot Spot's office, Bluestreak walking beside her. Hot Spot had definitely laid it on thick. The lecture itself had taken almost a groon, but the punishment given had taken at least a breem, seeing as Skyshock refused to back down.

"Primus. All we did was go exploring. It's not like we attacked anything!" she had protested.

"You know you are not allowed off-base without an escort. I believe the only way to be sure you two won't leave is to have you around someone at all times. So, starting tonight, you will always be in the presence of a Protectobot. You will be with First Aid tonight, and you will recharge in the medbay, compute?"

"Yes, sir," the two younglings said in unison. Now, the two were making their way to said medbay, where they would be for the rest of the night. Their hands were empty, as Hot Spot had taken the two sparkless protoforms from them during the lecture. First Aid glanced up at them when he heard them walk in. He was halfway finished with Jazz, who had fallen into recharge only moments ago.

"Pick a recharge berth and activate your recharge protocols. No energon until the next joor, compute?"

"Uh-huh," Skyshock acknowledged, while Bluestreak climbed up onto one of the berths. Skyshock hopped onto the berth beside it and lay on her stomach, so that he wings could stretch out without having her weight on them.

"Night, guys," she murmured. Her main systems slowed down as her subroutine systems activated, allowing her to save energy as she recharged. She heard Bluestreak mumble something in reply before he too shut down. Skyshock smiled absently at her friend before her processor shut off, and she dropped into stasis.

* * *

**/Skyshock? Skyyyyyyyshock. Skysho~ock. Wakey, wakey, leader of mine./ **Skyshock moaned in her recharge, confused by the random voice that was singing her name through her spark. Her wings wiggled in her sleep as she tried to drift back into the world of dreams. **/Skyshock,/** the voice whined. **/C'mon, lightspark, don' leave meh hangin'./**

**/Mmmm. Jazz?/** Skyshock onlined her optics drowsily and peered over at the pair of blue optics staring at her with a large amount of fear in them. **/Wha's wrong?/** she slurred sleepily.

**/I 'ad a dream tha' s'me mech tore meh in 'alf. I c'n rememba all the pain. Ev'rybot was fightin'. Nobot saved meh. C'n… c'n I recharge with you?/** His voice was almost a whimper by the end of his explanation. Skyshock sighed as she glanced over at Bluestreak. The mechling was still in deep recharge, proving how silent Jazz was when he walked. Skyshock hesitantly scooted over on the berth, and Jazz wasted no time in scrambling up beside her. He lay flat on his back while Skyshock settled in on her stomach, laying on top of his wing and snuggled into his body as he hugged her tightly as if he thought she was going to disappear. Once they were both comfortable and settled down, the two younglings offlined their optics and reactivated their recharge protocols.

* * *

**Mrs. Knockout:** :D Hey, hey! Lol. Um, Blue_streak_, but close enough. The Protectobots are my pet project in this fic, so I hope I can make you love them. :) It's one of my goals. After all, for now, they're replacing the Wreckers in my life. ;)

**Chistarpax:** Glad you like her. She's still a youngling right now, but she's gonna grow up, so… :)

**Lovely Rain Dancer:** Thank you very much. I'm having fun writing her, and Imma have fun with her special abilities.

**D-RockxIronhideForever:** :D Glad you like them. I wanted to experiment with Bluestreak, so I tossed him into this fic. And yes, the Protectobots will be replacing the Wreckers in this.

**CocoLab:** Thank you for the review. Hope you like it. :)

**Luna Prime-Awesomeness:** Glad you like it. I look forward to writing it. I already got tons of angst planned! X3

**Suki-Angel91494:** No, Blue isn't related to anybot in this one. He's just a normal Praxian that lost his family unit. No brothers or sisters, just an orphaned seeklet that teamed up with him on the streets. Thanks for the review, and hope you like the update.

**Luna Uchiha666:** Thank you very much :)

**Jazaline Coriana Lupus:** Glad you like her. I have fun writing her :D

**Leonixon:** :) She's gonna be fun to write. She's a blend of me and my sister, so we'll see just how she turns out. Right now, she's more Sarah than she is me. :)

**Dracomancer6491:** :) Thanks. :D

**Angel897:** Glad you liked it! :D

**Qwikshot:** Well, I will try not to disappoint. Hope you stick for the long ride ;)

**Namikaze Hatake:** Glad you like it. Blue's one of my favorites, too, and now, I get the joy of writing him! So excited for this.

**King Sabre Tooth:** Glad you liked it! I was worried that the teaser was overkill, but apparently everybody loved it, so… :) Hope you like what I got.

**Naughtia:** Lol. That's what most people thought when I posted it in TaCO. But, alas, Ratchet is on Planet Earth. And, yeah… Ratchet wouldn't let a couple of Decepticons get him down. BEWARE THE MEDIC OF DOOM!

* * *

Seeklet fluff, but no romance yet. Yes, Jazz is her Second now. :) Bet y'all didn't see _that_ coming! ;D

Reviews!


	4. 2: Conformers

1) Okay, there's a lot to explain. First off, no review replies this chapter, because I'm running late, but won't have any time to upload this any other time. For you innocent high schoolers who read this, lemme warn you about college. When you are in college, you can pick three of these five things: Good grades, sleep, work, , or a social life. Choose wisely. I've picked good grades, work, and sleep for now. :\ So it's short. Sorry.

2) Because this was one of the main questions asked in reviews and PMs. No, the third isn't Ironhide or Arcee. This very second in the fic, the Autobots are fighting the Fallen. After all, in DotM, Cybertron is destroyed. ;)

3) I love how half of y'all know my Seeker terminology from Three's a Crowd. Jus' saying.

* * *

Seeker terms, real fast!

Second: the first trine member to ever form a bond with a trine leader. If the trine leader were to die, this trine member would be responsible for finding a new trine leader and acting as trine leader until that new leader was found.

Third: This is the final Seeker to form a bond. If the rest of the trine is killed, his duty is to find a new trine and carry on the memories and tactics of his previous one.

Submissive Seeker: A second or third in a trine

Dominant Seeker: a trine leader or Seeker elder

* * *

Chapter 2

Conformer

2,681 words

* * *

"There's no doubt in my processor. That mechling is Jazz, our lieutenant and third in command to the Autobot forces. His spark signal is identical to the mech's." Exclamations of anger, confusion, and protest rose from the other four Protectobots at First Aid's claim. An order of silence flowed through the gesalt bond as Hot Spot stood from his spot behind his desk.

"How is this possible, First Aid? We all know Lieutenant Jazz left with Optimus Prime and the advance search team to find the Allspark. How could he possibly be back here and as a youngling, at that?"

"I'm not entirely sure, sir, but I have a theory. What if Jazz was offlined?" More angered shouts rose before Hot Spot silenced them again. "Thank you, sir. The younglings said they brought him to life in Protihex. Think about it: the Well of All Sparks is located just below that city and not far from the building they were in. Jazz was a mech filled with life, so it would make sense for him to come back. He used the Well as a portal of sorts."

"I…see," Hot Spot said slowly, silently wondering what Optimus Prime would do in a situation like this. "And this bond with Skyshock that you mentioned?"

"Well, because he was brought back in a Seeker's protoform, his spark would have immediately searched out for another Seeker spark to form a trine bond with. Skyshock was the only Seeker around when he came online, and since she had the more experienced spark of the two, she was named trine leader. Because of this, there will be a frequency added to her spark signal that will label her as a dominant Seeker, keeping other trine leaders from attempting a trine bond."

"So Jazz is a submissive Seeker?" Blades asked with a grin. He had worked with Jazz in the past and knew that the (ahem) short bot didn't like taking orders from anyone aside from Optimus Prime. Heck, Jazz hadn't even liked taking orders from Prowl, and they were best friends. "He must hate taking orders from a femme."

"Actually, it's probably the exact opposite. In his mind, she's the most important thing in his life. She will protect and provide for him, and the least he can do is obey her because he knows that it's for his own good."

"So, he'll just obey her blindly?" Groove asked with a concerned frown. He knew how reckless Skyshock would be. Adding _Jazz_, of all mechs, to that equation would not make their lives any easier, to say the least.

"Not quite. He stills has his own beliefs and opinions, and later in his life, that will affect his obedience, but for now, he has no reason to disobey her. It's like our gesalt bond, only stronger." There was a round of "ah's" and "that makes sense's."

"So, we will give Jazz the room beside Bluestreak, and–" Hot Spot began, but he was interrupted by First Aid.

"I'm sorry, sir, but there would be no point." There was a beat of silence before First Aid sighed and followed the unspoken order to explain. "Their bond is new and fragile. I guarantee Jazz will be in the same room as her every astrosecond of every joor for the next vorn. Sir, I would suggest putting a second berth in Skyshock's room."

"You want to put two younglings in a room together?" Streetwise asked, optics wide.

"They can either sleep in two berths in one room, or he'll likely sneak into her room, and they'll just share a berth. They're just younglings, Streetwise. They aren't going to do anything, especially when Skyshock knows that Metroplex might be watching," First Aid replied. There was another beat of silence before a booming voice filled the room.

"Jazz stated that he experienced what may have been his death through a dream," Metroplex stated in his slow voice. "He found comfort in his leader's arms. Conclusion: putting younglings in same room better for mental health."

"And Metroplex will keep an optic on them, as will all of us. You _did_ say they had to stay in our presence as punishment," First Aid added.

"Very well. Groove, they're with you for the next four joors. Go pick them up from the medbay," Hot Spot ordered.

"Gotcha, mech," Groove replied evenly with a grin. The four mechs stood and filed out of their leader's office.

* * *

Skyshock's systems sluggishly pulled themselves from recharge as her processor kicked up and ran internal diagnostics. The results alerted her of her growing hunger. Sadly, though, she _really_ didn't feel like moving. The surface she was lying on was warm and made of soft metal. As her processor registered the warm arms encircling her body and the sparkbeat of the surface her head was resting upon, she made up her mind that she should online her optics, even if she didn't move at all.

At first, she was confused. She was definitely lying on top of a silver mechling Seeker. Her helm was resting on that Seekling's chassis, and his arms were holding her tightly. The top half of her body was situated on his chassis as well, while her lower half was resting on the berth beneath them. She looked up at the mechling's helm, and it all rushed back to her. Jazz, her trinemate. She had thought it had been a dream. She gave a contented chirp as she snuggled into the heat his body gave off.

"Now, none of that in here," First Aid's voice carried over to them. Skyshock looked over to the door, where First Aid and Groove were making their way into the bay. She slowly sat up, stretching to warm up her movement relays. Jazz's optics onlined as he followed her example.

"Pleasant joor, Aid," Skyshock greeted.

"Likewise. Did you enjoy your little escapade?" he questioned as he poured three cubes of mid grade energon.

"Yep. We found some stuff," she informed him, "and we walked through one of the museums. Most of it was blowed up, though."

"Blown up," First Aid corrected automatically. It had long since become habit to correct Skyshock's incorrect grammar. It didn't bug him as much as the shortened words had. "Wake up, Bluestreak!" he called over to the still snoozing youngling. Said youngling jumped, letting out an undignified squeak before falling off the berth. Jazz snickered while Skyshock jumped off her berth and hurried to her friend's side, helping him to his feet.

"C'mon, Blue. Aid's got mid-grade for us," she stated as she tugged Bluestreak over to the berth she and Jazz had been occupying. She hopped up beside Jazz, and her friend climbed up beside her. Mid-grade was passed around, and there was silence as the younglings refueled.

"Hey, my mechs and femme. You're with me for the next joor," Groove stated as he walked into the room. Groove was an interesting mech, to say the least. His armor was mostly white, but his chassis was painted tan, his helm was black, and he had a tan optic band, rather than two blue optics. Though he was an Autobot, he detested fighting and only went to battle to protect and defend, rather than outright attack others. Most of the time, when the two younglings were with him, he spent the whole time telling them about the Golden Age of Cybertron, the many theories of Primus, or advance mathematics. The mech said that once the war was over ("If the war ever ended," Skyshock would mumble under her breath) these things would be important and would possibly put them above their peers because of the knowledge they gain every day with him. Bluestreak was normally more interested in the stories, and Skyshock enjoyed the mathematics lessons. The femme was more interested in the lessons with Blades. Next lesson, they were working on sniping, something both Bluestreak and Skyshock had a knack for.

"You three behave. You will be returned to your rooms at the end of your lessons. Have fun," First Aid stated. With that said, the medic strode back into his office, leaving the three younglings with the warrior. Skyshock hopped off the berth and trotted to the tan mech's side. Jazz, by instinct, followed her, and Bluestreak hurried after them.

"Hey, Groove. This is Jazz, my new trinemate," Skyshock introduced cheerfully.

"Nice ta meet ya, my mech," Groove greeted with a smile.

"Same 'ere," Jazz replied. The three younglings followed him as he led them from the medbay and towards the rec room.

"What are we learning today? Math? History? Are you gonna tell us about the Golden Age again? I like learning about that because we don't see peace anymore. Do you think we'll ever win the war?" Bluestreak stopped talking once he voiced that question. Groove was the only bot, aside from First Aid, that Bluestreak relaxed around, even though he was still sometimes skittish around the medic. Groove's peaceful personality and mellow disposition easily won the bot over, and the stories he told gave the little mech something to hope for.

"I don't know, Blue. This war has ta end sometime. Nothing lasts forever," the motorcycle claimed. Bluestreak nodded in understanding. "And we're going to talk about something different today. We're going to talk about the Well of All Sparks."

"The Well of All Sparks?" Skyshock repeated, fascinated by the name. A place where all offlined bots went? It sounded pretty cool to her.

"Yes, the Well of All Sparks," Groove confirmed as they walked into the rec room. The room, as expected, was empty at the moment. There was no doubt that Hot Spot and Streetwise would be in their offices, and Blades would be in the training room, hacking holo-Decepticons to pieces with his rotor blades.

The three younglings trotted after the Protectobot as he made his way to the couch. Bluestreak scrambled up onto the couch while Groove sat down beside him. Skyshock hopped up beside Bluestreak, and Jazz climbed up on the other side of her, cuddling her close as the bond flared up between them at the proximity. Skyshock, having been so long without a proper trine bond, relaxed back into her trinemate's side, allowing him to hug her close. Bluestreak scowled as he deliberately snuggled into Skyshock's other side, ignoring the angry flash Jazz's visor gave off.

"Now," Groove began, seeing that the younglings were all situated, "the Well of All Sparks is where the sparks of all offlined bots go until they completely move on. If a spark was evil, it is sent to the Pit. If a spark is good, it is sent to the Matrix. The Well is actually located below Protihex, which is where Jazz came back to life. We have come to believe that Jazz offlined once before, then when his spark was about to go into the Well, it redirected itself instead."

Skyshock perked up when she was struck with an idea.

**/Hey, Jazz?/**

**/Wha'sup, lightspark?/**

**/What if our last trinemate is still in Protihex, waitin' for us to bring it a body?/** Jazz looked down at me as he pondered the question.

**/I dunno. Maybe we should take a trip back there when our leash ain't so tight./**

**/Agreed. Until then, let's plan. I'll tell Blue./**

**/Does he **_**have**_** ta come?/** Jazz whined.

**/He's my best friend. Course he's comin' with us,/** Skyshock retorted. Jazz's silent apology floated across the bond, and Skyshock immediately sent her forgiveness tinged in irritation back to him.

**::Hey, Blue. Me and Jazz think our last trine mate is waiting for us.:: -Skyshock **Bluestreak, having been used to Skyshock speaking to him during one of the Protectobots' lectures, didn't so much as dim an optic when her voice floated through his mind via comm. link.

**::What do ya mean?:: -Bluestreak**

**::Well, if Jazz was waiting in the Well of All Sparks, then maybe our last trine mate is, too.:: -Skyshock**

**::I can see the logic, but I don't think we're gonna be able to sneak out any time soon.:: -Bluestreak**

**::I know,::** Skyshock replied evenly. **::We'll put together a plan for it.:: -Skyshock**

"And so, little ones, we haven't been down to the Well of All Sparks since that day, and _that_ is what the Seeker, Jetfire, is best known for." All three younglings looked up at Groove as he finished what he appeared to think was an amazing story. They exchanged glances before Bluestreak and Skyshock broke out into large grins, as they did every time they ignored one of his stories.

"That's so cool, Groove!" Skyshock claimed, as was tradition after he gave what was likely a very in-depth story. Bluestreak nodded his agreement. Groove smiled, happy that the younglings enjoyed the story.

"Now, let's get you to Blades. He wants to teach you how to aim better with those sniping guns."

* * *

Skyshock groaned as she flopped down on the ground of her room. Jazz grunted as he dropped down beside her. Bluestreak made it to the berth and hopped up onto it. There was a beat of silence before Bluestreak, never one for silence, spoke up.

"Do you think he's trying to kill us?" he asked. "I bet he is trying to kill us because he had to come get us. What if that's their plan, Skyshock? What if they just want us to die, so that they don't have to worry about us coming back if they kick us out? I mean, I try to be good, but sometimes I—"

"Blue!" Skyshock cut in before the mechling could continue. "He's not trying ta kill us. He's just makin' a point. If he has ta come get us again, he's gonna make us work harder."

"Oh." There was another beat of silence.

"You'd think they'd at least be easy on _meh_. It's not like I 'ad a choice in your adventure," Jazz claimed.

"Nah. You're _the_ Jazz. You can do anything," Skyshock said bluntly. Jazz sat up a little, leaning against his elbow as he looked at his trine leader. A smirk was one his lip components.

"I c'n do _anything_?" he teased. Skyshock's cooling fans sped up a little.

"You know what I mean!" she snapped, looking away as she attempted to her embarrassment with anger. Sadly, Jazz could easily feel that embarrassment through their new bond. He scooted around so that he could rest his head on her stomach and stared at the ceiling.

"Wha' d' ya think mah life was like b'fo'e I offlined?" he questioned. Skyshock shifted underneath him.

"My opiluk used to tell me stories about you before he was killed. He said you was an amazing spy an' a great fighter. He said you didn't like it when other people called you short, an' you was always proving yourself over and over again. Anytime me an' Blue played spy, I was always you."

"And you brought me back," Jazz whispered seriously, once again leaning up to look at her. He lifted his visor, and Skyshock was surprised by the sheer emotion in those baby blue optics. "Thanks, babe."

Skyshock was silent as Jazz laid back down, his helm over her spark this time. She was afraid that any noise would ruin the moment, would shatter the personal moment of peace they established. She didn't know what that word, "babe," meant, and she was sure Jazz didn't either, but the emotions floating through her spark, the feeling of friendship and companionship, ensured her that the meaning was something positive. Jazz's spark reached for hers, and she instinctively wrapped it in a love-filled hug. She reveled in the love and awe that was sent back to her.

**/I'm not gonna die,/** she whispered over the bond. Jazz twitched, and he sent a flood of love and reassurance while nuzzling her neck cables. She nuzzled the top of his helm, delighting in the contact.

**/Mine forever,/** Jazz murmured possessively.

**/And forever mine,/** Skyshock whispered back. The two snuggled together as they fell into an exhausted stasis.

* * *

Okay, next chapter will have replies. I'm off next friday, so I should be using that to write. Promise :) My plan is to have the next chapter of TaCO out next weekend. And my birthday's coming up! Handcuffed to the condiment twins! XD

Review, my friends!


	5. 3: Trouble-makers

1) I finally got a day off. Jeez, working sucks. Okay, so this is the first day in a long time that I've had off, many thanks to the holdiays, and what's more? I'm super sick, so I tried my best and all that jazz, and I hope you guys like this one. I suck at writing chapters that give nothing to the plot. =_=

2) Don't read into Skyshock's aspirations too much.

3) Enjoy. Review. :)

* * *

Chapter 3

Trouble-maker

5,212 words

* * *

There was the unmistakable sound of an irritable grunt.

**/Are you sure 'bout this?/**

**/Yep. As long as you're quiet, nobot'll wake up./**

**/An' Metraplex'll stay in recharge, too?/**

**/Yup./ **A huffing sigh.

**/… Yo're cert'n…/**

**/**_**Yes**_**, Jazz. Believe me, I've done this **_**many**_** times in my life./**

**/Gotcha… long as yo'r sure…/**

**/For the love of Primus, Jazz, I'm sure! Primus, you act like this is my first time to sneak out!/**

**/Hey, now. No need ta get snappy with meh./** A prim and irate huff.

**/Don't start with me, mech./**

**/Whatevuh, femme. Now, where we goin'?/**

**/Uhh… I was actually thinkin' 'bout going to Upper Valvolux./**

**/Ahh. So tha's why Blue wasn' invited. No wings./**

**/Yeah, He'd make the trip too long. Plus, Blades has been workin' 'im pretty hard. 'Aid's gettin' ready to put him in 'is next frame, which means he'll be a full-fledged sub-adult Autobot gunner./**

**/An' you?/**

**/I'm just gonna get armor updates. My spark won't be able to sustain a bigger frame, so 'Aid's gonna just add some programs once my frame finishes growing. He's already making me some bigger armor./**

**/Soun's like a plan. 'Aid says tha's wha' 'e wants ta do wi' meh. 'Paren'ly, it's harduh ta make a Seekuh frame fr'm scratch than a normal bot's./**

**/That's what he told me. My frame will work well for me, though. Imma be a sniper-slash-recon-slash-medic./**

**/…I dunno if Prime'll need ya ta be tha' many things…/**

**/Neh… Luck favors the prepared./**

**/Well, Imma be a saboteur. 'm good at it. I jus' gotta ge' the main trainin'./**

**/Transform here and use anti-grav until we're four clicks away./**

**/Gotcha./**

There was utter silence around them, as there should be. It had been a day of planning for her and Jazz. They, as Seekers, were sick and tired of being inside, and they had been fighting shared night terrors for the last orn due to the confinement. So they planned their escape. In honesty, they knew it would cause panic, not just for the Protectobots, but for Bluestreak, whom they had elected to stay behind, but they couldn't fight their sky-lust any longer. Bluestreak, on the verge of receiving his last frame, had been moved up to the last stages of his training, meaning Blades made sure the poor mech was dead tired by the end of the cycle. The two Seeklings had decided that it would be best to allow him to rest.

**/Now!/** Skyshock ordered. She transformed into her alternate mode, a Vosian speed jet. Her thrusters onlined, and she gave a delighted whistle as she shot forward. Jazz quickly followed her example, transforming into a Vosian stealth jet before jetting after her. He breathed a mental sigh of relief as he allowed the joy that flying gave him flow through their bond.

**/So do ya know where we're goin'?/**

**/'Course I do. We just have to fly northeast for a half-breem./**

**/'Kay, but if ya get us lost, I ain' evuh lettin' ya live it down./**

**/Whatever, Jazz./**

There was silence over the bond after that, and the only thing communicated between them was the joy and freedom they felt. It was something no grounder would ever understand. Slag, even other flyers didn't really understand. The unadulterated elation that came with a Seeker's flight was unparalleled. It made life worth living.

The two of them flew in perfect sync, Jazz following Skyshock's subconscious lead as they twisted and turned through the sky. To a grounder, it looked like a sky-dance. To a fellow seeker, it looked like two younglings playing. To Jazz and Skyshock, it was freedom and a treasure. It was the one thing that they alone understood, something that their adopted family unit would never understand.

Below them, the metal buildings grew more sparse, and the metal ground was more and more visible as they left the city of Praxus and entered Upper Valvolux. Upper Valvolux was known for being sparsely populated, even before the war started. It was a harsh land with little energon but a surplus of rust. It for this reason that the land became known for the delicious rust sticks that the inhabitants made. Seeing as the land wasn't pretty, making rust sticks was the only way the inhabitants made credits because they couldn't rely on tourism like Iacon or Praxus could; however, the rust-stick business had kept the occupants alive and well-off.

Skyshock slowed and transformed as she began her descent. Jazz followed her example, and the two looked around as they neared the center of the small town. Glitch mice scattered as she and her trine mate landed, and Jazz grimaced at the fleeing creatures in disgust. The two Seekers looked around idly, carefully searching for any signs of Decepticon activity. Skyshock glanced over at Jazz and gave a single nod when she determined that the area was safe.

**/I don't see anything or hear anything./**

**/Me neithuh. I think we're good./**

"Good," Skyshock chirped as she trotted to the first shop she saw. Jazz grimaced as he followed after her, glancing around suspiciously. "Jazz, there's rust sticks in here! Old ones!" Skyshock exclaimed happily as she looked through the things on the shelves.

"Cool," Jazz replied absently as he moved to the front to look out the large window. Something felt off, and it had him on edge.

"Jazz, didn't you hear me? They have to be _at least_ three vorns old. Can you imagine how amazing they're gonna taste?" Skyshock questioned eagerly as she stored the wrapped candy in her subspace. Everybot knew that rust sticks got better with time because time gave the rust more time to ferment. It made them taste better, but strangely enough, it made them healthier, too, because the rust caused the body's nanites to activate and kept them in use. That was the main reason the rust candy business did so well; creators could buy their sparklings something sweet that helped their systems.

"Cool, Sky… I think we need ta go," Jazz claimed as he looked around. Skyshock frowned as she moved to his side, peering out the window beside him.

"Why? I don't sense anything," she noted. Jazz's gaze darkened.

"I do." He suddenly grabbed her and jumped out the window just in time to see the plasma blast hit right where they had been standing. Skyshock looked around in shock, unable to see where the shot had come from.

"What's going on?" she asked Jazz when he suddenly pulled her out of the way of another shot. "What's attacking us?" she squealed, fear evident in her voice.

"I dunno. We gotta get outta 'ere!" Jazz exclaimed.

"You will not escape, Decepticon scum!" an aristocratic voice snapped.

"I ain' no D'cepticon!" Jazz snapped as he dodged another shot. He knew the enemy wasn't talking about him, though. He was talking about his trine leader who still had the red optics she was created with. He looked around frantically as he hugged Skyshock protectively to his body, waiting to dodge the next attack. However, it never came. The air a few feet in front of them shimmered, and a red mech faded into view. Jazz took five steps backward before pulling his leader behind himself. "State yo'r des'gnation and affiliation," he ordered. The red mech studied him for a few kliks before answering.

"My designation is Mirage. I am an—" the mech began, only to be cut off by an excited squeal from the hiding femme.

"_You're_ Mirage? _The_ Mirage?" she exclaimed, coming out of hiding to rush toward the mech.

"Sky!" Jazz exclaimed, grabbing her upper arm to yank her back.

"Jazz, that's _Mirage_!" Skyshock gasped, as if that explained everything.

"Yeah. I think we a'ready 'stablished tha'," Jazz retorted, glaring at the red mech suspiciously.

"He's an Autobot, Jazz," Skyshock snapped.

"You can't be sure a' tha'," Jazz said darkly. Mirage looked insulted while Skyshock looked mortified.

"Jazz, he's _Mirage_. He's the bot me and Bluestreak wanted to meet," she said indignantly.

"Yeah, well—"

"And I bet First Aid and Hot Spot will be torqued if we abandon him here like this without being sure," Skyshock interrupted with a smug smile.

"Wait, you two know the Protectobots?" Mirage asked, taking a step forward, only to pause when Jazz fired off a shot at his pedes. Skyshock smacked Jazz's gun before she abruptly hurried to Mirage's side. The taller mech looked down at her, glancing at Jazz every so often, and she noted that he was only a head and a half taller than her, meaning he would only be a head taller than Jazz.

"Yeah, we live with them. They're our guardians," Skyshock stated.

"Sky," Jazz hissed through his dentas.

"One of our team was seriously injured in our last scuffle with the Decepticons, and the medical help of First Aid would be life-saving for him. I don't suppose you could lead us to-"

"Slag no!" Jazz exclaimed, grabbing Skyshock's arm and pulling her behind him again. "Why the slag would we lead _you _to our base? Do we look stup'd ta you?"

"Jazz, he didn't mean-"

**::You two better be in Praxus, or you better have a **_**very good reason **_**not to be.:: -Hot Spot**

"Slag," Jazz and Skyshock groaned in unison.

"What?" Mirage demanded, glancing around for whatever had these two younglings worried.

"Hot Spot just discovered we were gone. How'd he find out so fast?" Skyshock replied, directing her last question to her wing mate.

"Blue pro'ly woke up an' freaked," Jazz mumbled.

"Blue wouldn't do that," Skyshock stated in a chiding voice.

**::I'm waiting for an answer:: -Hot Spot**

Both Seeklings winced at the ire in his normally calm voice. They exchanged glances, both searching their processors for plausible lies. Jazz grimaced at the worry floating through their bond. Then Skyshock's optics suddenly lit up, and a sense of relief and joy slid into the bond. She looked up Mirage with a grin.

"We'll bring the Protectobots here if you tell them you sent out a short-range distress signal five breems ago," she bartered. Mirage looked rather taken-aback by this offer, but he nodded in agreement.

**::We were flying around the outer Praxis border when we received a short-range distress signal. We flew over and found some injured Autobots. Request medical assistance and transport:: -Skyshock**

There was a brief pause over the link, and Skyshock wondered if they were trying to think of a way to reply or if they were trying to debate whether or not this was even plausible.

**::Okay, Skyshock… Request granted. Medical assistance arriving in one point two breems. Send the coordinates. If I find out that you're lying, you **_**will**_** be grounded in both senses of the word, and your trine mate will recharge in a separate room:: -Hot Spot**

Skyshock looked up at Mirage with a mischievous grin. "I need you to send me the coordinates of your friend's location." Mirage complied, and Skyshock forwarded those coordinates to her CO. "Now, we need to be at those coordinates before they get there," Skyshock stated. Jazz vented heavily as he fixed Mirage with a glare.

"Lead the way," he ordered. Mirage scowled at the younger bot, turned away, and started walking. Skyshock grinned as she trotted after the red mech, excited to meet her other idol. Mirage, for his part, ignored the mech and instead, focused on the femme. There was no denying that the femme was a Seeker. It was the main reason Mirage had shot first. He had been watching them since they landed, and seeing them break into the rust shop had been all the proof he needed. Only a Decepticon youngling would steal. However, after he had met them, new logic had formed. What if they were all alone, and stealing was their only way to get fuel? Then he found out about the Protectobots, and he was back to square one.

"Why did you steal those rust sticks?" he asked suddenly. Skyshock blinked before looking up at the spy with a sheepish grin.

"Because they taste yummy," she replied easily. Mirage frowned.

"Stealing is not right, whether is tastes good or not." Skyshock's face twisted in irritation.

"It's not stealing if nobot wants it. It ain't like the owner is gonna come back for his stuff," she replied, thoroughly ruffled. "He's probably dead anyways," she added in a mumble. She gave an irritated huff, puffing up her armor slightly in an agitated manner. Mirage couldn't help but feel slightly amused at the action. He had lived his whole life as a Towers mech before this slaggin' war had trodden all over his home, and he had seen many a femme ruffle their armor like that. Normally, it was in an attempt to appear more attractive to the Tower mechs around them, but only a flier could make it look truly attractive. He was fairly certain this little femme had no idea how her action could be interpreted.

"_What_ are you staring at?" the little mech seeker demanded as he moved forward, purposefully positioning himself between the spy and his trine mate, halfway hiding her behind a wing. Mirage smiled inwardly at the show of protective possessiveness.

"Nothing. Do seekers normally puff up their armor like that when they're irritated?" the spy asked lightly. Skyshock blinked, realizing that she was, indeed, puffing up her armor in annoyance.

"Dunno. My danni and opi died before we could really talk about it. Jazz is the only other seeker I know," Skyshock claimed.

"I see," Mirage said, then he turned his gaze to the mechling. "Tell me, Jazz, how did you get your name?"

Jazz blinked in surprise, then he looked over at his trine mate.** /He changes topics a lot./** he observed. All he got in reply was an internal giggle.

"Jazz was brought back to life thanks to the Well of All Sparks. Primus gave him to me," Skyshock said, wrapping her arms around her trine mate's neck with a smile. Sure, the explanation sounded childish, but it was the truth.

"Brought back to life? First time I've heard of that happening," Mirage mumbled to himself. "Ah. Here we are," Mirage stated as they arrived at a dilapidated metal house. The structure was rusted something fierce, and the two seeklings weren't so sure it was a good place to put an injured comrade. Windows were broken, leaving shards scattered across the ground, and the front door was missing. On top of all that, the house leaned heavily to the south and looked like it would topple over at any given moment. It was not exactly the safest base of operations, and Skyshock found herself appreciating Metroplex even more.

"Blaster? Wheeljack? I found a bit of riffraff wandering the streets. They're bringing assistance," Mirage stated as he walked through the doorless entrance. Skyshock's optics widened a bit as she entered the small three-room building. The room that they arrived in was a greeting room, and the kitchen and berthroom attached on either side of the room. It was broken down, and Skyshock didn't see a single thing she could collect. Her wings rose in disgust at all the dirt lying around on the few pieces of ramshackle furniture, and the wire sensors on her helm twitched every time a glitch mouse would scurry past.

"Gross," she whispered to her trinemate as they followed Mirage into the berthroom. Settled on the only berth was a tall red mech. He held the boxy frame of a cassette deck, a frame that the two seekers would know nothing about if First Aid hadn't forced them to learn about different types of Cybertronians. Standing beside the berth was another mech, though this one looked very strange. Identical fins were mounted on the sides of his helm, lighting up every time he spoke. His frame was painted gray and white, though dust had made most of the white paint darker in shade, and small panels stuck out from his shoulders. Scattered around the room were smaller Cybertronians that only stood about four feet tall. Well, the bi-pedal ones, anyways. Two mini beastformers rested on the berth. Neither seeker really understood the reason behind their presence, though.

"We ain' riffraff," Jazz mumbled as he shuffled into the room. The mech on the berth seemed to stiffen a bit at the sound of Jazz's voice.

"Jazz?" the red mech wheezed, dim optics lighting up a bit as he attempted to sit up. "Ya there… mah main… mech?" the red mech asked weakly.

"Do I know you?" Jazz questioned as he approached the berth, frowning down at the red mech.

"My bad… Ya soun' like… anothuh mech… I know," the red mech mumbled as he settled back down.

"Ya got the name right, though," Jazz stated as he approached the berth.

**/Do you think you knew him before you died?/ **Skyshock questioned through the bond.

**/Prob'ly, but I don' know 'im anymore…/**

"Ya kinda look like 'im, too," the red mech noted when Jazz moved into his line of sight. "Visor, horns, silver paintjob to get the femmes' attention. Tha' was mah Jazz-mech."

"Well, maybe we c'n be friends," Jazz offered with his trademark grin. The mech managed a weak grin himself.

"Maybe…"

**::Please tell me you two aren't in that ugly abandoned building…:: -Blades**

**::… Well, it looks a lot better on the inside than the outside…:: -Skyshock**

**::Primus bless:: -Blades**

"We've got company," Mirage said suddenly, pulling two blades from his weapons subspace.

"No, no! It's Blades and Aid!" Skyshock exclaimed, waving her arms excitedly as she trotted out the door. Mirage and Wheeljack exchanged wary glances before slowly following her.

"See, Blades? I tol'ja there were Autobots out here!" Skyshock was saying. The 'copter-bot rolled his optics before looking over at the two new mechs.

"And they didn't fire on you?" he asked in a terse tone, glaring over at the red spy. Mirage grimaced as he gazed back at the fighter. It was no secret that Blades had a prejudice against mechs from the Towers district, seeing as he was the only one of his team that had been looked down upon by the rich society bots that lived there.

"Well, they were a bit freaked out at first, but we're friends now," the seekess claimed with a shrug.

"So you fired on our younglings?" Blades demanded, reading in between the lines as he took a threatening step towards Mirage. Skyshock whistled in alarm and quickly put herself between the two mechs, even though only one of them wished to fight.

"Now is not the time for this, Blades," First Aid said tersely as he bypassed the two mechs to approach the building. Skyshock grimaced as she glanced back at First Aid. She returned her gaze to the sociopathic helicopter, grimaced a bit, and scampered after the medibot. Blades snorted in amusement before dropping his guard and following her, purposefully bumping Mirage's shoulder as he passed. The Towers mech simply sighed and followed the mech inside.

"Hey, docbot," Blaster greeted with a weak grin. "You come... all this way... jus' fo' meh?"

"Yes, I did. You are lucky Skyshock caught that signal when she did. We were fully prepared to ship off," First Aid responded as he administered painkillers and got to work patching up the wounds. He simply needed to get the mech back to Metroplex, where he could repair him completely while they left the planet. One of the cassette mechs spoke up at this point. He was bi-pedal with white armor and intelligent blue optics.

"'Shipped off?' You guys are leaving the planet?" he asked, his voice baritone and gentle, much like First Aid's was.

"You bet, shortie. We got a message from Optimus Prime himself inviting us to some organic planet it the Beta-Phi-Alpha sector," Blades responded, ignoring the glare he received from each cassette at the nickname. Skyshock exchanged a glance with Jazz before looking back at Blades.

"Why didn't you tell us?" the femme asked curiously. She hated being out of the loop. The helicopter scowled at her irritably.

"Because we knew two certain younglings would run off to get some last-breem exploring in before we left Cybertron," he responded. Skyshock gasped and looked over at Jazz with a horrified expression.

"We still haven't visited Vos or Iacon!" she whispered, though her voice carried rather well in the silence. Both First Aid and Blades groaned, but First Aid continued his work while Blades glared over at the two seeklings.

"You two are _way_ too much trouble," he claimed with a deep scowl. After all, he was always the one sent to pick them up and bring them home from their little excursions.

"Yeah, but you love us anyways," Skyshock replied with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, and you wouldn' be _half_ as traveled as ya are now withou' our 'elp," Jazz added.

"I've been all over this fraggin' planet multiple times, and that's _without_ you two slaggers forcing me to hunt you down. I waste a fraggin' lot of energon on you two runts," Blades snarled. Skyshock simply smiled that mischievous smile of hers before trotting over to stand by First Aid, completely ignoring the angry rev of Blades' engine.

"You see this line right here?" First Aid questioned immediately, as had become habit for him to do whenever Skyshock walked in on one of his operations.

"Yeah. That's the secondary electron response line to the cooling system, right?" the femme responded as she peered into the red mech's open chest.

"Correct. Now, what does it do and what is wrong with it?" First Aid quizzed.

"It tells the cooling systems when the frame's gettin' too hot, and… it's…" Skyshock pursed her lip components as she studied the line. "It's frayed?" she guessed.

"Very good. Now how do we repair it?"

"We have to replace it," she said with confidence.

"Correct. Now, talk me through the steps," First Aid ordered gently.

"Um… place a temp patch on the frayed spot and—"

"Nope. You forgot something," First Aid interrupted as he placed a temporary patch on a slowly leaking wound.

"Oh! Offline pain receptors. But didn't you already do that?" Skyshock questioned with a frown. First Aid smiled.

"Yes, but when you receive your certification, I will not be doing everything for you first. Now, you have offlined the receptors. What do you do next?"

"Place the patch on the frayed part," Skyshock repeated quickly.

"Why?" First Aid quizzed as he started wrapping the thin metal patch around the frayed section of the wire.

"To keep any stray sparks from damaging the rest of his systems," the seekess responded as she watched her mentor place patches between his impromptu lesson.

"Very good. Now, we've placed the patch. What next?" First Aid continued. Skyshock hummed a bit as she debated this. As she thought, First Aid rapidly patched up different wounds, allowing her to fix this minor wound on her own. She opened her mouth to answer, but any words she was about to say were covered up by the sound of two transformations outside.

"Mirage, Wheeljack, we gotta get going! Decepticon hunting party headed this way!" an unfamiliar green mech shouted as he rushed into the room in front of a white and black mech. Both of the new mechs froze, though, when they saw the extra bots in the room.

"First Aid? Blades? When did you two arrive here?" the green mech questioned.

"That information is irrelevant, Hound. We must abandon this site immediately," the black and white mech interjected. First Aid turned to his work with a new determination, patching quickly and efficiently. Skyshock stepped back to give him more space and turned her attention to the two new mechs. The green one, Hound, looked rather stressed, his blue optics bright as he looked at all the room's occupants in turn. His forest green frame was rigid, though Skyshock was certain it was with worry rather than fear. The black and white mech, however, seemed to be the complete opposite. He was completely calm. His optics were icy blue, completely assessing the situation before him. A forked chevron adorned his helm, and his back held two rigid doorwings. The mech was easily taller than Jazz and Skyshock, and there was an air about him that told you that he was not a mech to be messed with. Suddenly, his optics flicked to her, locking with her red optics. Those icy optics narrowed marginally, and Skyshock quickly averted her own. She felt Jazz stand beside her and happily leaned into his arms when he wrapped them around her.

"Blades, I've got him patched up enough to get him to Metroplex," First Aid stated with urgency.

"You bots have been living in _Metroplex_?" Mirage questioned.

"Yes. Now, let's go," First Aid urged. Blades was the first one outside and quickly transformed down into his alt mode. The rest of the bots were close behind, though. Mirage and First Aid held the unconscious cassette deck between them as they hurried to where Blades was waiting, and the red mech was deposited in the medium-sized helicopter with care. Blades didn't wait for a command to leave. The second the door closed behind Blaster, Blades fired up his rotary engine and took to the sky. First Aid grabbed onto his landing skids as he took to the air, and without further hesitation, they were flying toward Praxis where Metroplex was hidden.

"I can't wait to get my certification," Skyshock whispered as she watched her two guardians fly away to save that mech's life.

"Yeah, Sky, tha' sounds great, but we need ta get these mechs ta Met b'fore the 'Cons catch up," Jazz interjected with a grimace. The femme nodded and turned to the bots crowding the building's entrance. She opened her mouth to address them, but the black and white mech spoke first.

"I do not know who you are, but seeing as the Protectobots trust you, I will extend my trust for these few breems. We do not have time to waste, so give us the necessary coordinates so that we can begin our journey." Skyshock shuttered her optics in surprise, but that surprise quickly turned into anger. How rude! Her armor puffed out irritably as she sent the coordinates over to Mirage in a databurst.

"Thank you," the winged mech said stiffly. "You and your trine mate will scout ahead of us as we travel and take out any threats you find. Mirage, take the lead and eliminate any hidden threats. Wheeljack, Hound, you two will transport the cassettes, and I will take up the rear, in case the Decepticons catch up to us."

"Yes, sir!" Hound, Mirage, and Wheeljack replied in unison. Skyshock scoffed at the obedience. Just who was this mech to think that he could order her around? A single glance through the bond showed that Jazz enjoyed being bossed around just about as much as she did. In his processor, nobody gave him orders aside from the Protectobots and his trine leader.

"C'mon, Jazz. Let's jet," the seekess mumbled irritably as she transformed. The silver mech grunted in agreement as he followed her example. They both shot into the sky, more than willing to leave the others behind if it meant getting rid of the new leash that seemed to have appeared with this new black and white mech.

**/I don' like this new bot,/ **Jazz proclaimed over their bond after a few kliks of flight.

**/Me, too. I feel bad for Blue, cuz this other bot looks Praxian, too./**

**/Meh… I wouldn't worry 'bout it. Knowin' Blue, he'll like the hard-aft mech anyways./** Skyshock giggled a bit at her trine mate's phrasing as they danced in the air.

**/Blue can't help it. He sees the good in everybot./**

**/Yeah, an' it's gonna get 'im killed some cycle./**

**/Don't say that. Blue will stay alive just like we will. I don't want to lose anybot else./** Skyshock shuddered at the very thought. She felt Jazz's guilt and non-verbal apology float through the link. **/It's okay, Jazz. I just don't wanna think about it./**

**/I can understand that. I jus'—/**

**::Fall back, you two, to where I can see you:: -Prowl**

There was silence between the two flyers as they slowed down obediently. Jazz irritation mixed easily with Skyshock's through the bond, but they did not speak out against the unfamiliar mech. Jazz vented heavily as he rolled over towards his leader.

**/I think I'm gonna hate this new mech…/**

**/Me, too, Jazz. Me, too./**

* * *

The rest of the trip was taken in silence, mostly in the fear that the new bot, now known as Prowl, would snap at them. Skyshock and Jazz were almost sulking as they landed on Metroplex's cleverly hidden landing pad. The other four mechs were rather quick in their arrival, skidding to quick halts when they reached the two flyers.

"Well, this is it," Skyshock mumbled as she transformed into her root mode. Her wings fluttered irritably as she moved to stand beside her transforming wing mate. "Met, take us down," she called out. The bots around her transformed, though Wheeljack and Hound waited until the four "cassettes" were out of their interiors before changing to their bipedal forms, and all optics turned to the seekers as they waited for something to happen. Skyshock was not unaware of their suspicion. Red optics and seeker wings were condemning traits among the Autobots. Pit, if it weren't for Jazz, Mirage would have killed her back in that small town in Upper Valvolux.

"Met?" she repeated, wondering if she had perhaps gone to the wrong area by mistake. Those worries were proved wrong, though, when the ground beneath them moved down a few feet before stopping abruptly. Skyshock shared a glance with her trine mate and seemed to wilt a little, wings drooping slightly. "Met, we're sorry. At least let us in. We have 'Cons coming," Skyshock whined. The ground shuddered slightly in what Skyshock was pretty sure was anger or irritation before lowering below ground. The top of the elevator chute was covered by a strip of metal, and Skyshock grimaced in the darkness as the landing pad slowed to a stop.

"I got one a' those sinkin' feelin's," Jazz announced as the door to the inside of the cityformer slid open. The sight of Hot Spot in the doorway solidified that sinking feeling, and both seekers groaned.

"Both of you, to my office. Streetwise needs to speak with you, and I will be there to speak with you once I have finished with these mechs," Hot Spot stated in a no-nonsense voice.

"Frag…" Jazz mumbled on a sigh.

"Move it!" Hot Spot snapped impatiently, causing the two sub-adults to jolt and scurry away. Hot Spot grimaced as he watched them go before turning his attention back to the new arrivals. "Greetings, Prowl. I had hoped not to meet up this way, but we apparently have no choice. We have much to discuss and little time left."

"Agreed. First, I would like to know who that femme is and why that mech has my best friend's designation."

* * *

**Angel897:** Glad you liked it :) Hope you liked this chapter.

**Suki-Angel91494:** ^-^ That's what I'm going for. I wanted to mess around with a trine bond, but I couldn't do so in Three's A Crowd. So, this is my alternate one. ;)

**Dracomancer6491: **Well… he's a seeker, so I would hope he can fly… Remember, he doesn't have his old body, so all his old tech, aside from his visor, is gone.

**Lovely Rain Dancer:** Lol. I'm glad you like it! It'll be interesting to see where this one goes. Hope you hang around for the ride. ;)

**Selena Snow:** X3 I know, right?! I'm having so much fun with the fluff here. The next chapter should have even more fluff, which I always enjoy writing. :D

**Thebookfan09:** Naw, I won't ditch y'all. Slag happens, and it normally compounds on other slag that happened only moments before. I have no life right now, and with the arrival of the major holidays, I have even less time. NO, darling, Sunny isn't the third. That would be so awkward XD Jazz and Sunny would always be fighting over the trine bond for her affections. 0.o Lol. I love her "feeler thingies" (Very eloquent, BTW ;] {The formal name would be sensory wires}). Just wait 'til you see them in action. ;]) It will be glorious.

**Trapezoidal: **Don't stress it. I've been busy, too. The one thing about working at Walmart: you have no free time during the holidays. Glad you like this, though. Next chapter should be better thought out than this one. Thanks for the review. :D

**Mrs. Knockout:** Thanks. Sorry for the late update. Hope you liked this one.

**Jazaline Coriana Lupus:** Lol. I don't mind. Thanks for taking the time to review, though. :)

**Luna Uchiha666:** I love the fluffs. Next chapter will be super fluffy. ^-^ Can't wait!

**Bee4ever:** Me, too. Then again, Jazz is amazing no matter what form he takes. *swoon*

**Madi the death angel:** Thank you for the review. I'm sorry that the update was late, and hope you liked it :)

* * *

Well, I'm gonna go eat something before I implode. Thanks to all y'all who reviewed. :)

Review!


	6. 4: Rebels

1) Update! Yay! I'm having so much fun trying to decide which of the three chosen mechs will be the third. No, none of y'all get to know who is chosen until the mech is revealed (sorta) next chapter. So wait in anticipation as I do what I do best and twist the world around you *evil grin*

2) Guess what! Lunar Mist is getting a new laptop that will actually cooperate with Fanfiction . net and carry around with her, so, hopefully, we will start getting more regular updates! Everyone cheer with me *yay!*

* * *

Chapter 4

Rebels

5,613 words

* * *

It honestly shocked Hot Spot that Prowl was taking this so well. Prowl, ever the logical one, had not glitched at all and showed no negative emotion on his white faceplates. Well, he didn't really show _any_ emotion on his faceplates, but at least he wasn't crying or anything. That would have been bad, right? After all, if somebot had told Hot Spot that one of his teammates had died (despite the fact that he would have known of said teammate's death far before anybot else), he would have broken down into a sobbing mess by this point. Prowl, however, simply stared at Hot Spot with an unreadable expression on his faceplates.

"I do not believe you," the Autobot SiC finally announced. Ah. That explained it. Hot Spot grimaced at the cold mech before him, one that had only really be understood by two or three mechs, one of which had died and recently been resparked. Denial was to be expected.

"I understand if you don't want to accept this, but—" Hot Spot began, but he was interrupted by the other mech.

"This has nothing to do with what I wish to accept as truth. I am not in denial, nor am I slipping into any form of depression. I am simply stating a fact. Re-ensparkment is impossible, has been proven to be impossible by multiple sources. In addition to that, I know for a fact that it is nearly impossible to kill Jazz. The mech has been through many seemingly impossible situations, and he has always come out unscathed. Even if Jazz has been killed, it is illogical to believe that he has been revived into the body of a youngling Seeker. Though the seekling has Jazz's accent, visor, and a few of his frame features, this mech is _not_ Jazz, Third in Command of the Autobot army and Head of Special Operations. There is simply no way for that to be true."

There was silence in the room after Prowl finished his logical rebuttal. Hot Spot had to fight back a scowl and wished sorely that First Aid were here to speak of his findings. At that thought, Hot Spot stiffened. He could easily speak of his teammate's findings without said mate being here.

"His spark signature is identical to Jazz's, so unless your best friend has an errant sparkling running around, our little seeker is Jazz's new self."

That seemed to throw Prowl for a loop. The mech stiffened as he ran this new data through his logic core, trying to decipher it. Hot Spot frowned as he studied the mech, prepared to catch him if he were to glitch.

"I cannot focus on this at the moment. We will speak of this again when we get in contact with Optimus Prime," Prowl stated.

"Speaking of Prime, what was that message? Why didn't we get it?" Mirage broke in, taking a small step forward toward the two highest-ranking in the area. The communication room, which was where they were currently convened, was large enough for all of the new bots (at least the ones that were healthy) and the Protectobots to stand around comfortably with plenty of room.

"Metroplex informed me that he received a message from Optimus Prime himself giving us coordinates to meet up. I was about to listen to the message myself when we were informed that Skyshock and Jazz had gone missing… _again_," Hot Spot responded.

"Message strength: weak with distance. Transmission: unheard by weak receptors. Metroplex: programmed to receive weak transmissions," Metroplex's slow voice boomed in to answer Mirage's second question, causing Hound and Mirage to jump as neither of them had ever visited the cityformer.

"Do you have playback capabilities, Metroplex?" Prowl questioned. There was a low buzz, as if Metroplex was irritated that Prowl would even _question_ his abilities in communication.

"_Greetings, and I hope that any Autobots listening to this are well and uninjured,"_ Optimus Prime began evenly, his voice fizzing lightly with static caused by the long-distance and the age of the transmission. _"I am pleased to say that we have reached a new turning point in our war. Megatron has been offlined permanently, along with Blackout and Bonecrusher. Sadly, the Decepticons were not the only ones to suffer a loss. My Second Lieutenant and Third in Command, Jazz, has been offlined, as well, a very grave loss for our forces."_At this, Hot Spot nodded to himself, theory proven right. Prowl, however, looked like he wanted to glitch. His left optic twitched as he stood, there, wings rigid and frame tense. "_Although we found the Allspark, it has unfortunately been destroyed in the battle against Megatron. With the Allspark gone, we cannot return life to our planet, and fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting… protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are world apart, like us, there is more to them than meets the optic. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here. We are waiting."_

The message cut off, and a string of spoken coordinates took its place. After the coordinates cut off, there was silence in the room. Horror and agony were the only emotions floating around the room. Horror, the Allspark had been destroyed. Their only hope for repopulation aside from the femme seekling currently being berated by Streetwise. What a burden for one so young to bear! To know that you were the only bot that could repopulate your planet, a planet that was dead itself. Without the Allspark's power, there would be no reviving Cybertron. The Allspark was to be their new source of energon. Without it, they no longer had the means to refuel, and their sources were growing smaller and smaller as it was.

Then there was the agony. Jazz had been killed. Mirage mourned for the loss of his commander and close friend. It had been Jazz that had knocked Mirage down a few pegs, the one that forced him to understand that nobot cared that he was a rich bot. Every Autobot was equal, and he'd get no special treatment because he was from the Towers district. It was after that conversation that Mirage made his first true friend: Hound. Hound thought only of what the others much be feeling. Mirage was very close to Jazz, and Hound was equally close. After all, Jazz had been the mech he reported to, and the saboteur was careful to make sure that every bot felt included, whether it be in a conversation, a party, or a mission. He was good at that.

And Prowl… Prowl suddenly felt like he had lost a leg, or an arm, or some other part of him that, while it was not vital, still kept him balanced. Jazz was gone. He was… _gone…_ He could remember times when Jazz had commed in sheepishly, saying that he had been captured and the Decpeticons were holding some pretty nifty-looking torture devices. Could Prowl possibly come pick him up, assuming the mech wasn't too busy? He could remember arriving to see Jazz in a huge puddle of his own energon, barely clinging to life. Somehow, the little fragger managed to survive. He had been the mech that everyone feared and respected. Even Megatron had offered the mech a position as his Second in Command if he only switched sides. How had he died?

Primus, what was he going to do without his best friend? Jazz had always been that bright light that always showed in his life, even if said light was freakishly annoying and the victim normally wished he could turn off said light for a few joors at a time. He had been the mech that kept Prowl from overworking himself, the mech that dragged the tactician away from his desk every now and again, even if it was just to socialize in the rec room. What was he going to do without Jazz?

Then his optics hardened. He would do as he always did. He would do his job as the Autobot Second in Command, and he would save and protect as many Autobots as he could, starting with that little femling that was their only known way to continue their race.

"How much planning have you done for the future trip to this new planet?" Prowl questioned. Hot Spot gave the mech a pained look.

"Next to none," he started, but Prowl interrupted him.

"Very well. I have run the information through my logic center and battle computer and have come up with a suitable plan of action," the SiC stated flatly. Hot Spot bristled at the presumptuous statement and had to fight to keep the scowl off his faceplates.

"Hey!" Blades barked angrily. "Hot Spot's in charge here. Has been for a few vorns. We ain't had no problems, so how 'bout you let him continue doing his job," the 'copter snapped. Prowl fixed the frontliner with a cold glare.

"As I recall, I am the Second in Command of the Autobot forces, which ranks me far above your Gesalt Commander. Secondly, I have far more battle and tactical experience than your leader, seeing as I have been the leading tactician for the Autobot forces since the second vorn of the war. In addition to that, I have a logic center and battle computer that can find any negative outcome in a plan, which gives the ability to create a plan that will have no shortcomings, a plan that I have already created. Now, you, _soldier_, will stand down and allow me to do my job, or you can spend the remainder of this trip in the brig. _Am I understood?"_

The room was silent as all the mechs in there stared at Prowl, who wings were trembling minutely. Whether in grief or anger, nobot could say, but it was obvious that Prowl would not take insubordination from any of the bots in the room.

"Prowl," Hot Spot called gently, forcing himself not to wince when those icy blue optics turned to him. "I will not question your authority, nut if you have a plan, I wish to hear it. We need to act now."

Prowl relaxed only a little as he nodded to his direct subordinate. "Of course. We first must send a general message on a secure Autobot line that we are leaving. If my team did not receive this transmission, it is unlikely that other Autobots have been made aware of Optimus Prime's status. We will inform the other Cybertron-bound Autobots of what has transpired on this new planet, and we will inform them of our plans to leave. We will give coordinates and time where we will be, if there be any Autobots that wish to meet us and leave with us. We will not be planet-bound for more than a half-orn, though.

"In addition to that, we will begin preparing for our journey. Mirage, Hound, and Blades will scout out extra energon to ensure that we will have enough for the full journey. Wheeljack and Groove will raid abandoned clinics and medical bays for extra supplies, as Ratchet is, no doubt, running low. We will also send out raids to find extra metal to use for replacement armor if the need arises.

"Lastly, we will defend this femme youngling at all costs. If the Decepticons do not know of her, our goal will be to ensure that they _never_ know of her. With the future of our race hanging in the balance, I will not allow our last hope to be offlined while trying to be a hero."

"Dude, that's a battle you just can't win," Groove cut in with a grin. Prowl frowned as he turned to the cycle-bot.

"Explain."

"Skyshock enjoys her freedom. She's like a cybercat that can't be tamed, a cyberhawk that dislikes being caged. Trying to lock her up, the femme will bust out and be free anyways," Groove explained with a soft grin. Prowl's frown deepened as he turned to Hot Spot.

"Does the femme not obey authority? Who is her guardian?" the SiC questioned. Hot Spot grimaced slightly.

"None of the younglings really have a _guardian_. We all watch them and teach them, but they have no set guardian or a guardian bond of any sort. First Aid is Skyshock's mentor, so I suppose he is the closest thing she has to a guardian…" the gesalt leader explained hesitantly. Prowl nodded, as if confirming a thought.

"Very well. From this point on, I will be a permanent guardian figure. The femme needs stability and discipline, and I can offer her that."

Silence.

"Oh, Primus bless…" Blades said on a groan, causing Prowl to glare at him. The mech was far past noticing, though, as he turned to Groove and said as he waved his arms wildly, "Unstoppable Force, meet Unmovable Object."

"Yes, Prowl, you will have quite a bit of… well, I wish you luck," Hot Spot said with hesitation, obviously unable to come up with the right word to describe the difficulty the logical SiC would likely be facing with his new young ward. If there was one thing Skyshock didn't like, it was being told what to do, and Hot Spot was fairly certain Prowl hadn't dealt with a bot as stubborn as she since Sunstreaker and Ironhide. He had to hold back an amused grin. It would be humorous to see how this worked out.

"I doubt there will be any issue. Now, we must prepare that message to send out. We are running short on time."

* * *

Skyshock sighed for what must have been the sixth time. She wasn't quite sure what was worse: getting the lecture or waiting for the lecturer in question to finally get to his office. At the moment, Skyshock was seated sideways on Jazz's lap, who was lounged back in one of the chairs that sat parallel to Hot Spot's desk. The femling had curled her upper body into Jazz's chest plates a few breems ago when she figured that this wait was likely going to be long. Jazz's always craving physical contact with his trine leader, a common trait for new trine mates, was more than happy to cuddle her close, wrapping his arms around her as he rested his helm on hers.

**/This is kinda boring/** she stated… again. Jazz sighed aloud.

**/I know. Ya think Hot Spot forgot 'bout us?/**

**/Doubt it. We aren't that lucky/** Jazz sighed again as he gently nuzzled his helm against hers.

**/Wha' do ya think 'e's gonna do to us?/ **The mech asked. Skyshock shrugged.

**/I couldn't say. I mean nobot told him we lied so… he can't ground us… right?/**

**/If 'e does, I ain't hangin' around to deal with it/** Jazz stated bluntly. Neither of them had really had to deal with skylust yet, and neither really wanted to. The most they had been banned from the sky was an orn, and that hadn't been too bad, seeing as they had been implementing flight into their fight techniques.

**/What if Prowl gives our punishment?/** Jazz scowled at that thought.

**/Primus, I hope he don't. Somethin' tells me tha' mech doesn' care if you like 'is punishment or not…/**

**/Yeah. Nowhere near as soft as the Protectobots are/**

**/Ya know… somehow… I feel like I've met 'im befo'e…/**

**/Who? Prowl?/**

**/Yeah. Maybe I knew 'im in the past…/**

**/Huh. Wonder if he was a tight aft then, too…/** Jazz snickered at that statement, but it didn't keep him from rebuking her.

**/Don' use those words/** he requested. Skyshock frowned as she looked up at him.

**/Why not? You use them… Blades and Streetwise use them… even First Aid does sometimes/**

**/Yeah, but you're a femme, and femmes aren't 'sposed ta say nasty words like tha'. They're 'sposed to be pure an' all tha' slag/**

**/You are a terrible hypocrite…/**

**/Yeah, but ya still love meh/**

**/Sometimes. So do you think it's true that we're leaving planet?/** Skyshock questioned, not wanting to stay on the topic of her language choice. Jazz easily picked up the new conversation.

**/I don' see why Blades would lie 'bout it/**

**/Yeah… It's kinda sad… I wanted to visit Iacon and Vos. Iacon especially. I could find so many niceties left behind there, and we could visit the old energon bars and the museums and maybe even the prime's old housing unit!/**

**/Primus, please tell meh you ain' wantin' ta steal some of the prime's stuff…/**

**/Pit no! Even **_**I**_** have lines that I don't cross. Optimus Prime is **_**very much**_** alive. I was thinking… well… if we are going to meet up with him… maybe we could bring him some stuff from his housing unit, you know?/ **She trailed off sheepishly, wondering if maybe her plan wasn't very wise. After all, giving these things to Prime would basically be admitting to entering his housing unit and invading his privacy… but then again, wouldn't he like to have some of his old things back, things that he might never see again if he was to stay off-planet?

**/I'll help ya. We'll plan something. I know we can. 'Sides, we gotta go to Protihex one more time, right? We gotta find our third/ **Jazz replied cheerfully. Skyshock smiled up at him, then frowned.

**/But what if he's not in Protihex. Primus, Jazz, what if he's in Vos? Or Kalis? Primus, what if he's in Kaon?!/**

**/Whoa, whoa, whoa, swee'spark. Chill, babe/** There it was again. That word. Babe… **/I dunno where our third is, but if he's anywhere on this planet, we'll find 'im/**

**/Are you sure, I mean—/**

Their internal conversation was cut short by the sound of the door opening and quick footsteps entering the room. They didn't have time to move before Hot Spot and Prowl were standing before them, neither holding amused expressions. Hot Spot, ever the one for propriety disliked seeing the two seekers like this. He, like every other grounder, had heard the rumors of what happened between trine mates, and he was going to be certain that nothing like that happened while they were still this young. Of course, those rumors might have been false, but if their current attachment to each other was anything to judge by, they might very well be true, too.

Prowl, on the other hand, was not thinking quite along those lines. If what the Protectobots believed about this mechling was true, then he would have Jazz's tendencies to… browse… Jazz had been quite the femme's mech, and Prowl did _not_ want this young, inexperienced mech messing around with his new charge. Besides, he wasn't quite certain Jazz could raise a sparkling without glitching every few breems.

"I believe we've had this conversation before, Skyshock, Jazz," Hot Spot began irately.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Don' touch the opposin' gender. You may get 'er sparked up," Jazz snapped crudely, yet he pulled the femme closer to his chest protectively.

"Jazz!" Hot Spot started angrily.

"Mechling, you are to remain silent until you are given permission to speak," Prowl interrupted, his voice lacking inflection. It didn't even sound like an order. It sounded more like a fact. Jazz, however, visibly bristled, matching how his trine leader looked on his lap. Both of their wings rose in unison, armor puffing up in a subconscious attempt to look bigger. Skyshock's sensory wires rose up behind her, the ends making fizzing noises as they began charging with electricity.

"Skyshock! Stand down!" Hot Spot ordered. He was ignored as the femling focused her full attention on Prowl, on the mech that was threatening her position as trine leader.

"You will not interfere, stranger," she hissed as she rose to her pedes fluidly. Prowl stood his ground, slowly opening his weapons subspace, just in case. He was not expecting what happened next. Jazz gave a furious battle cry as he tackled Prowl to the ground.

"How dare you threaten my leader!" he roared as he grappled with the door-winger on the ground. Hot Spot stared for a few moments, watching in idle irritation as Prowl hit a few pressure points on the mechling's body. It only took the older mech a fraction breem to completely knock the mechling out, yet Hot Spot could only wonder idly how long it would be before Jazz, Skyshock, and Blades started living permanently in the previously unused brig.

"Skyshock, that's enough!" Hot Spot barked when the femling crouched down in preparation to pick up where Jazz dropped off. The femling cringed, but relaxed, wings drooping in guilt.

"There will be no more arguing with Prowl. At all," the large mech snapped. "In fact, you will need to get along with him seeing as you and Jazz will be working for him for the next two orns as punishment for leaving without informing an adult."

"What?!" Skyshock exclaimed, turning her horrified gaze to Hot Spot. The larger mech fought back a wince. Perhaps telling her that Prowl had claimed guardianship over her would be a bad idea…

"Yes, and in addition to that, you two are not to leave Metroplex until we have landed on this new planet."

"But we have so much we have to explore!" the seekess argued in vain.

"You will not argue with your superior officer, and you would do best to learn to accept my command. You will be receiving orders from me until we meet up with Optimus Prime," Prowl interjected seriously as he gingerly lifted Jazz into his arms.

"You two keep saying we're meeting up with Optimus… what's the plan on this? When are we leaving? What's going to happen to the other Autobots left on Cybertron?" Skyshock demanded. Prowl and Hot Spot exchanged glances and appeared to be communicating internally. Skyshock's engine revved irritably, and she growled as she stomped over to Prowl. "Fine! Don't tell me. Not you two care anyways."

"You will not speak to your commanding officers in that tone," Prowl stated, eliciting another growl from the irritated femling.

"I'm not in the army, so you can stop treating me like I am until I'm old enough to join," she snapped as she yanked Jazz from the taller mech's arms, fighting the force of gravity that wanted her to tip backwards.

"You will also be recharging in separate quarters from now on. You and Jazz are almost adults, and as such, you should not be recharging in the same change will be effive immediately," Prowl stated firmly. Skyshock's wings hitched up another notch, and she resisted the urge to shout at the irritating door-winger. Instead, she turned around and stomped toward the door. She had to fight to keep balanced with the larger seeker in her arms, but somehow she made it out the door. She struggled down the hall to the rec room, growling furiously when Metroplex stubbornly kept the door shut.

"Fraggit, Met, let me in!" she hollered at the door.

"Skyshock's excuse to Hot Spot: a lie," the living city stated. Just like that, Skyshock's temper fled. She blinked as she stared at the door in surprise, then her expression morphed into a small smile.

"How is it you can see through me so well?" she asked fondly

"Metroplex: observant. Query: when is next planned trip?"

"Sarcasm doesn't fit you, Met."

"Question: still legitimate."

"Yeah, but if I told you that, it would take away all the fun, wouldn't it?"

"Sarcasm: not appreciated."

"So you can use sarcasm, and I can't?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay, so now that that's all cleared up, can I go inside now? Jazz is heavy," Skyshock questioned, grunting a bit as she shifted her trine mate's weight a bit. In answer, the doors _hissed_ open.

"Lies: wrong and demeaning. Order: do not withhold truth again. Metroplex: does not give second chances."

"Okay. I promise."

* * *

"That slagger wouldn't've got meh if I had've b'n thinkin' straight."

"Yes, he would've, Jazz. You got your aft whooped."

"Nice ta know you care, Sky."

"Aw, Jazz, you know I care. I love ya soooo much."

"So if I ask for a kiss…"

"Metroplex: observing younglings. Misdemeanors: reported to Prowl."

"I'm really startin' t' hate tha' bot."

"Yeah, and we have to deal with him for two orns."

"Maybe you two are just overreacting. I mean, the bot _is_ the Autobot Second in Command, so he probably expects obedience. I mean, he's had it for vorns, and he probably doesn't like that you two kept disobeying him, and he's probably not going to let us because he wants you to—"

"Blue. We get it. You're enthrall'd by the new bot."

"Jazz, don't be such a jerk. Blue can talk as much as he wants."

Jazz grumbled as he settled back again. The three younglings were settled on the couch in the rec room. Jazz was sitting sideways, back leading up against the armrest with his legs stretched out. Skyshock was seated on his lap diagonally so that her back rested against his right shoulder and her legs dangled off his left leg and, by extension, the couch. Bluestreak was wedged between Jazz's right leg and the back of the couch. He was leaning up against Skyshock's chest plating, a hand wrapped around the three wires that she had draped over her right shoulder for him. Through their younglinghood, it seemed that that was the main habit he seemed to be having trouble breaking. That and his excessive need to fill silence with pointless words.

"The guy's still annoying," Jazz grumbled, thinking back to the fight he had had with the mech. He couldn't even remember jumping at the guy. He could remember seeing the gun, and from there, it was all a blur.

"I'm kind of shocked they ordered us to stay here… I mean, it's not like they allow us to go anywhere anyways," Skyshock observed hesitantly.

"I know, right? I'd be mo'e inclin'd ta stay indoors if they'd stop tellin' meh wha' ta do," Jazz confided.

"It kind of freaks me out; the idea that we're leaving Cybertron behind for a planet so far away…"

"Tell me 'bout it. Do ya think Cybertron will only 'ave 'con's on it after we leave?" Jazz questioned hesitantly. Skyshock grimaced.

"Probably," she responded. Her wings suddenly went stiff at that thought.

**/Jazz, what if we accidentally leave our third behind?/** Her panic flowed easily through the bond, causing Jazz to tighten his hold on her protectively.

**/I guess we'll jus' hafta break our new orduhs ta make sure we find 'im/**

**/But when?/**

**/Well… Give it three o' four soluh cycles. By then, all the bots should be runnin' 'round ta make sure ev'rything is ready f'r takeoff/**

**/Okay… so we'll sneak out… Should we go back to Protihex?/**

**/Yeah. An' Iacon. Iacon's jus' ovuh the Sea a' Lights, so we could go ovuh there, 'xplore a li'l bit, then fly back t' Protihex. We'll nab our third fr'm the University, then jet back ovuh here. Nobot'll even know tha' we left/**

**/Yeah, 'cept for the extra bot we'll be bringing back/**

**/No need fo' sarcasm, babe. We'll work it out. Jus' be ready/**

Skyshock sighed heavily and rolled her optics. She glanced up at Jazz to respond when a certain tactician strode purposefully into the room.

"It is time for you three to be in recharge; though, I can see that one of you already is…" Prowl stated, his last sentence coming out as a murmur. Skyshock looked down at Bluestreak and found, to her surprise and amusement, that the mechling was cuddled into her side, completely offline. "A Praxian," Prowl breathed as he stepped forward. Skyshock rolled her optics.

"Blue, wake up. We gotta go to our quarters," she said as she gently prodded a sensory panel. The small mechling whined tiredly as he flicked on his optics. "C'mon, Blue. Let's go," Skyshock crooned with a small smile. Bluestreak looked up at her with lazy blue optics, giving her a semi-loopy smile.

"Hey, Sky," he cooed as he cuddled closer to her. "Warm…"

"Blue, we gotta go," Skyshock continued as she shook her best friend awake. Bluestreak gave a tired groan of protest as the black and gray seekess stood up, forcing him up with her.

"One more breem," he begged as he clung to her side. She giggled lightly.

"C'mon, Blue. Let's get you to your berth," she said on a chuckle as she led him to the door. "See you later, Jazzy." Her second gave Prowl a dour look before leaving the room behind her. Prowl sighed when the rec room doors closed behind them. It appeared his friendship with this new Jazz was beginning with a rocky start, as it had with that last Jazz. Hopefully, this Jazz would understand as the other Jazz did. Prowl didn't know how to socialize, and Prowl didn't make friends. The tactician, instead, was praying that like the old Jazz, this new Jazz would not give up on him. After all, Prowl needed Jazz now more than ever.

* * *

"_Why are we fighting to save the humans? They're a primitive and violent race."_

"_Were we so different?"_

_A bot screamed in pain, and Jazz's spark wrenched. His stared down in horror as his little Bumblebee, one of his favorite pupils and closest bots was captured and tortured below him. The mechling had been raised among them, the last known sparkling, and Jazz had been one of his key caretakers. How dare they hurt him!_

"_Hang back. Lemme check it out." He squeezed through the two concrete posts, nimbly flipping through the bridge's metal support beams. "Optimus, are we jus' gonna stand here an' do nothing?"_

"_There's no way to free Bumblebee without harming the humans."_

"_It's Megatron! Retreat!"_

"_But it's not righ—"_

"_Let them leave."_

_Anger and pain flooded his systems. Anger at his leader for allowing his little bot to be taken away to become a human experiment. Pain for his favorite mechling, who was no doubt terrified and in extreme pain._

"_Bumblebee is a brave soldier. This is what he would want."_

"_C'mon, Decepticon punk!"_

"_They must know it's here as well."_

"_Please, let this work."_

"_What about Bumblebee?"_

"_I sense the Decepticons are getting ready to mobilize."_

"_We can't just leave him to die, to become some human experiment."_

"_Prime!"_

"_You wanna a piece a' me?! You wanna piece?!"_

"_No! I want _two_ pieces!"_

"NO!" Jazz shrieked in terror as he leapt from his berth. His visor was bright as his optics lit brightly with fear. He frantically looked around the room. Where was Skyshock? Where was his leader? She was supposed to be there. She was always there! What if that monster got to her first? What if it was hurting her? What if it was killing her?!

"_No! I want _two _pieces!" _His spark sped up in fright and worry.

"Skyshock?! Sky!" he cried as he hurried to the door. The door immediately opened, and he burst out into the hallway. He looked to his left, then to his right anxiously, not sure where his leader had been taken. "_Skyshock_!" he cried out in fear. It was if some otherworldly bot had heard him because a door two rooms down opened without being commanded to do so. Jazz scurried over to the door and hesitantly looked inside, pulling a plasma pistol from his weapons subspace in case there was an enemy inside. To his relief and eternal delight, the only occupant in the room was a gray and black femme with black delta wings that each sported a single red stripe.

**/Sky… Skyshock?/ **he whispered through the bond as he slowly crept over to her berth. The femme in question appeared to be recharging rather soundly, and Jazz suddenly felt guilty over even thinking about waking her. She was just as tired as he. What right did he have to wake up his leader just because he had a bad dream? Primus, he was acting like a sparkling! She probably wouldn't wanna get in trouble anyways, and if Prowl found them in the same berth next solar cycle, they would undoubtedly be in trouble. Besides, he needed to stop acting so needy and mech up. With that thought in mind, he slowly turned back around and started toward the door. He had only taken about two steps before a femme voice called his name

"Jazz?" Skyshock called lazily from the berth as she lifted her upper body up to gaze at her trine mate. He was slumped, wings drooping lowly as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. His visor was dimmed lowly, showing his fatigue, yet the bond spoke only of guilt and fear. Without hesitation, Skyshock scooted over on the berth to allow him room. She didn't have to make the offer verbal. Jazz scurried over to the berth and scrambled onto it. He snuggled up against her, cuddling his face into her neck as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, as if he was worried she would disappear.

"It's okay to wake me up, Jazz. You're never gonna be alone again. I'll protect you 'til I die."

With that spark-felt promise from his trine leader, Jazz offlined his optics and dropped back into recharge, this time dreaming only of his trine leader and the adventures they would be having in Iacon very, very soon.

* * *

**Lovely Rain Dancer:** Lol. Got that all fixed up. Joys of writing two characters that have similar names ;)

**Selena Snow: **Yeeeaaahhh… Prowl and Jazz's relationship is gonna be awkward for a while. Poor mech doesn't quite know whether or not he likes Prowl, and Prowl isn't quite sure he likes this new Jazz. Quite a conundrum, no?

**Angel897: **She will. ;) Can't keep her hanging. She will get her third, and I'm having so much fun deciding who it will be. XD

**Luna Uchiha666: **Does this chappie have the fluffz you want? :D I luvz the cuddlz X3

**Bee4ever:** I think he will eventually, but it's gonna take a lot of nightmares to get there. :\

**Chistarpax:** Yeah. Working at the angst, so I figured I could use that to my advantage in the close future. ;)

**Thebookfan09: **Lol. Yeah, my internet, keyboard, and time schedule has been less than accommodating. -.- Losing patience over here… Anywho, nope, Sunny isn't the third, because he ain't a seeker, and Sideswipe would die if he died. Couldn't have that happening, because I would wake up to a whole contingent of Sideswipe fangirls with axes, guns, and pitchforks. Death by fangirl seems rather brutal. ;) You'll meet the new third next chapter. And Sunny… well, Sunny won't be coming in for a while. Probably four or five chapters (at least). I need to concrete the relationships between the trine, the newbies, and the Protectobots. *nod nod* so the trip will actually probably be written out.

Yeah. I kinda threw in as many bots that Jazz knew as possible. Wanna know a secret? We're gonna meet more bots, too. I dunno when, but we will! :D

Awww! *heart* You make me smile! Oh, oh! So my PM system isn't working, so I gotta tell you here! Guess what guess what guesswhat! I'm writing a oneshot based off of one of my random conversations with Lynn and Dylan and my sister! I can't wait! XD

Lol. Yeah. Sensory wires. ;) You will see them in action eventually. Let's just say she's very adept at utilizing them to her benefit in battle.

**Suki-Angel91494: **Lol. No, don't beat up Prowl. He's actually dealing with some very tough things, but you just don't know about them. You will understand in a few chapters. Poor mech. :(

**Trapezoidal: **Yep! I love irony and paradoxes! They're so much fun to twist. XD Not too many twists just yet, but there will be. *evil grin*

**Kagekitsonegal: **Lol. I think _all_ my ideas are random. It's how I make my money. Metaphorically, of course. ;)

**Mrs. Knockout: **Meh. No problem. It took forever for TaCO to get any views, so I figure it'll be the same with this one. It takes time, so thanks for viewing it at all. :D

* * *

Rumors of seeker behavior:

It is rumored that a seeker trine is frequently intimate. It believed by grounders and non-seeker flyers that this is how seekers keep their trine bond so strong as any other bond must have some sort of proximity to remain powerful. This belief is reinforced by the fact that new trines (usually sparkling or younglings when they bond) stay in physical contact with their wing mates at all times to keep the new bond strong. Instead of spark merging, though, flying together and communicating through that bond is actually what keeps said bond strong. They crave the contact simply because they have a new love (not romantic. Just… love.) for their trine members and most seekers are most attuned to touch. Of course, seekers love confused ground-pounders, so they keep their culture to themselves. Besides, they don't like outsiders for the most part.


	7. 5: Adventurers

1) Well, here's my newest chapter. Thanks for all y'all that have stuck with this, despite my sporadic updates :D

2) This is my last week of winter-mester, so next week should yield quite a few more updates. :)

* * *

Chapter 5

Adventurers

5,721 words

* * *

**/Sky, wake up/**

The femme in question groaned at the voice intruding into her thoughts.

**/Go away/** was the tired reply. The other voice was far more persistent, though.

**/Sky, get up. Met'll be up in a few breems, an' we gotta be gone b'fore then/**

Bleary optics booted up and stared at the silver face that was floating above hers. The mech in question was grinning in excitement, sending said excitement over their bond. The only thing he got in response was a tired grunt. Jazz snickered as he tugged at his leader's arm.

**/C'mon, Sky. We gotta go get our third!/ **he whined through the bond. Skyshock sighed heavily as she rose from her berth. She never _had_ been a morning bot, and she wanted nothing more than to throw something at her second in command. She knew she didn't have a true reason to complain. She had planned the trip, after all, and she really needed to see it through. That didn't change the fact that she had picked an un-Primusly breem to online at. It couldn't be helped, though. They had had three solar cycles to figure out this new bot Prowl's daily schedule. He would be onlining in about two breems, meaning they had a breem and a half to get to the Sea of Light, not an easy task in the least.

**/Mm'kay… le's go…/** Skyshock agreed quietly as Jazz pulled her through the door and lead her into the dimly lit hallway. This was the best way to know whether Metroplex was online or not. When he onlined, the cityformer immediately brightened his hallway lights. As he slipped offline, though, his lights always dimmed up to the point of total darkness. The large mech's stasis systems kept them dimly lit, though, a precaution put into his coding when he was being created.

Jazz was silent and seemed extremely sure of where he was going as he pulled his leader through the dimmed hallways past closed doors and silent rooms. Seeing him like this helped Skyshock understand why he wanted to be a saboteur. In the back of her mind, she wondered idly what that type of distance would do to their bond. After all, saboteurs were known for having to go behind enemy lines for up to a vorn at a time. Skyshock's wings drooped a bit at the thought of being away from Jazz for that long.

**/Here. Climb in/** Jazz ordered, pointing to a shaft in the wall. Skyshock walked past her trine mate and peered into the hole in the wall. Her wings stiffened at how tight the space was. Just like any other Seeker alive, Skyshock had severe claustrophobia. If she couldn't stretch out her wings, she was frightened because her wings were her main mode of transportation. Take them away, and she no longer had a way to escape if the need arose. **/It's only a fraction breem to the othuh side/** Jazz reassured her. The femme gave him and uncertain look before climbing in. She had to tuck her wings uncomfortably close to her body, but she could still fit. She moved forward a couple of feet before she sensed Jazz climb in behind her. Her wings shuddered a bit when she came to the realization that she was blocked into a small, enclosed space. She hated feeling trapped like this. However, seeing as Jazz was behind her, she knew she could only go forward. So that was what she did. With the assistance of Jazz's silent reassurances through the bond, a now completely awake Skyshock crawled forward through the vent shaft.

What felt like a vorn was actually only a breem, and Skyshock finally came up on the barred exit of the vent shaft. She frowned as she approached it, wondering how she was going to get it to open. **/Jazz…/**

**/Don' stress it. Jus' crawl up t' it. Met's systems'll recognize ya an' open up for ya/**

Skyshock glanced back at him again but followed his directions. She crawled up to the bars and waited. She was about to comment to Jazz when a green beam of light flitted over her like a scanner. The monitor that had sent out the beam beeped twice, and the bars slid away. Skyshock did not waste a moment. She scuttled out of the shaft, activating her anti-gravity tech when she realized that she was basically crawling off an underground cliff.

**/Great. We're still underground. What now, Jazz?/**

**/'Ave a li'l patience, babe. Follow meh/**

Skyshock frowned as she followed Jazz through an opening in the metal terrain that surrounded Metroplex and hid him. She frowned as she followed his lead, wondering how on Cybertron he found these openings. How often had he slipped out this way? Had he been taking adventures without her knowing?

**/Ya know I wouldn' do tha' to ya, Sky. It's jus' tha' when I 'ave bad dreams, I don' wanna wake ya up, so I come ou' here 'til I'm tired enough ta slip inta bed wit'cha an' fall inta recharge withou' a struggle/**

**/Oh. Are we almost there?/**

**/Almost. Head up here/**

They went silent again as they floated upwards having to turn to fit through the narrow slit in the ground. It was well hidden, an entrance that no one would see there unless someone else showed them. Her respect for Jazz suddenly grew.

"As it should. C'mon, babe. Met can't hear us. Le's jet!" Jazz said cheerfully. She transformed and shot off without hesitation. Jazz quickly followed her example, easily falling into the second's position at her right flank. Our sensors and scanners flared out around them, looking for enemy signals. There was no hiding the added their danger to latest trip. Not only would they be flying out in the open over the Sea of Light, but they were headed to Iacon, the old Autobot headquarters and jewel city. Skyshock expected to see at least five Decepticon groups when they got there simply because the 'cons expected any living Autobot to return there at some time, which in this case was kind of true.

**/Stop stressin' it. We'll be fine. Ya got meh t' watch your back, an' I got you. No troubles/** Jazz said cheekily.

**/Yup until we get shot to death because you kept distracting me. Now, pay close attention to your surroundings. We're approaching the sea, and we need to double-time it to decrease visibility/**

**/Acknowledged/**

They went silent as they approached the edge of the Sea of Lights. As they flew past the edge, they shot forward at twice their previous, silently crossing over the city-state line of Praxis. They were officially in Iacon territory, though none really claimed the Sea of Lights as their own. It was a strange thing, the Sea. Nobot really knew what it was made of. Some said it was Primus's spark somehow showing up to the surface. Some said it was simply the center of Cybertron, a core that still held energon, but too much to control. Some said it was the light from an advanced civilization that did not allow bots to return once they were seen. Nobot could say for certain, though, because nobot ever came back from the trip down to the bottom of it.

Skyshock stared down into the depths below her, wondering what was down there. She almost felt irritated that she couldn't explore it now. She had heard the stories from Groove, and she knew about the mystery behind the Sea, but now was not the time to visit it. Maybe next time. For the moment, she was content to marvel that the bright lights and mixture of colors below her. Blues, pinks, purples, and greens mixed together, dancing like an aurora from the planet's core. She could feel Jazz's awe through their bond and knew that he saw the same beauty that she did.

**/Next time/** she stated. She could feel Jazz's grin through the link.

**/Babe, I don' think there's gonna be a next time, but it's still nice ta look at/**

She sent her agreement through the link, then a silent warning. It was time to be serious again. She could see the edge of Iacon as they approached as a ridiculous speed. Slowly, she dipped down, hoping that they would not be seen as they approached, and as she got closer, she slowed her speed, not wanting the sound of her turbines and powerful engine to catch any attention. Silent and invisible was the goal for this trip. Jazz easily followed her lead as she transformed, using her anti-grav to land on the cliff edge of Iacon's lands. Jazz landed beside her and they both stared up at the huge city standing before them.

Iacon, though broken down, was still majestic. Huge buildings rose up seventeen stories high, some reaching even higher than that, architecture at its finest. The two seekers could tell by walking through the city that only the greatest architectural processors worked on these buildings. Circular bridges connected buildings together, and most of the buildings were dome-shaped, something that Iacon had been known for. Random thick slabs for larger transportation vehicles to land on were attached to almost every building, leading the two to believe that they were in the business district of Iacon.

**/Where's the prime's housing unit?/ **Skyshock asked rhetorically. She wasn't expecting Jazz's answer.

**/'Bout a breem's walk fr'm 'ere. Prime 'ad ta live close-by cuz those slaggin' politicians always 'ad to call 'im in. Poor mech nevuh had a break/** Skyshock looked over at her trine mate in surprise.

**/How do you know that?/** Jazz blinked and looked over at her before shrugging.

**/Dunno. I just… do…/**

**/Huh. Well, then lead the way/**

Jazz easily took the front, more than a little disconcerted by how well he knew these streets, despite the fact he had never been in Iacon before. They moved close to the buildings, hoping to avoid being seen, but they found as they walked that nobot seemed to even be there.

**/Jazz… is this silence kind of freaking you out, too…?/**

**/Yeah. I though' the 'con's would a' leas' be p'trollin' the area…/**

**/Let's hurry./**

**/Yeah. Let's…/**

They hesitantly quickened their pace, not wanting to get caught by whatever might be following them. The change from business district to housing district was immediate and obvious. The buildings were a bit larger and took up more space, as a housing community or expensive housing unit would. Small shops spotted the area, standing out against the housing units and communities by their once-colorful signs. In fact, the two seekers were certain that all of Iacon had once been a colorful, exciting place with many people. This fact was actually proven, too, by the large array of bodies dotting the streets.

"Primus," Jazz murmured in horror. Skyshock glanced up at him, then frowned at the many bodies. She knew she should be as horrified as he, that she should be disgusted and scarred, but she couldn't be. She had grown up on a street covered with bodies like these. For Jazz, perhaps, it was strange and terrible, but for Skyshock… it was normal, it was common. She had long ago learned how to deal with the negative emotions the sight brought up. They were long-dead, and she could not help them. She did not know any of them, and they did not know her. There was no use in mourning over long-dead bots who probably wouldn't have cared if you were alive anyways.

In fact, she knew that these Cybertronians wouldn't have cared if she lived. Iaconians were known for their distaste for the Seeker race. In fact, they didn't like any bot that was military build, especially seekers. They were the "scum of society," the "sky-huggers," and the "lovers of war." It wasn't true, seeing as most military builds were just like they were. Pit, Starscream himself was a scientist! Still, the Iaconians could never seem to get past that red optic color; a color they said reflected the Pit inside all military types. Skyshock glanced over at Jazz as they walked, noting his optic color.

Blue. He had blue optics… Only those of the science and medical caste had had blue optics. Politicians had gold, and low workers, such as servants, garbage workers, and miners, had purple or gray. Yet Jazz had blue…

**/We're here. This's Prime's housin' unit/** Jazz suddenly announced over the bond as he came to a stop in front of a non-descript housing unit. Skyshock stared up at the dilapidated building in dismay. For some reason, she had been expecting a grand housing unit, maybe even a castle. Instead, she stood before a single-story housing unit with burned walls and a single broken window.

**/Well… let's explore…/ **she responded, still holding a bit of hope. Maybe all the good stuff was inside… She hesitantly stepped through the door, which appeared to have been forced open at some time. It hung listlessly off the sliders, locking mechanism torched. She glanced around as she stepped through, taking in the large greeting room to her right and the door to her left. Jazz followed her as she moved along, both moving into the door to the left.

**/An office/ **Skyshock observed as she walked up to the desk. Without hesitation or guilt for invading his privacy, Skyshock opened up the top right drawer of the prime's desk and started digging through it. Datapad, datapad, datapad, broken datapad, broken datapad, holocube…

"Huh…" she murmured as she lifted up the cube and flicked it on. She blinked when a holo-picture of a rosy pink femme appeared. The femme was grinning mischievously, blue optics glimmering. She appeared to be tall, and Skyshock could see the still grace of the femme.

"Elita…" Jazz whispered, sounding amazed. "Prime must not've been able to c'me back b'fore 'e left."

"Why do you say that?" Skyshock questioned as she placed the holocube on the desk and pulled out the top datapad.

"Cuz 'e would've tak'n that." Skyshock glanced up at him to see him offline the cube and subspace it. She inwardly grinned, wondering if her trine mate was finally taking on some of her more shady traits.

"Huh. This looks like a battle journal or something. It gives battle names, the end result of the battle, losses… Prime must have been really meticulous…"

"Naw. Tha's all Prowl's work. What else's in there?" Skyshock put the pad down and onlined another one.

"Scripts from meetings with the Senate!" she exclaimed with a gasp. Jazz's optic's brightened behind his visor. Datapads with Senate scripts were considered top-secret, simply because of some of the controversial topics that were discussed there. Nobot wanted to be implicated in front of the public, especially when Cybertron had been so close to war.

"Leave 'em. We don' need tha' slag weighin' us down," Jazz stated.

"Yeah," Skyshock replied as she dumped the datapads back in the drawer and closed it. She moved on to the bottom drawer and grimaced. "More datas… Let's look in one of the other rooms."

"Soun's good," Jazz commented as he sauntered back through the door, glancing around as he did. He turned to the left and started down the hall, sensors on high alert. He glanced into the room on the right and frowned. "He had a pretty nice library a' s'me time," the mech commented. Skyshock trotted up to his side and looked around him to see inside. The library had probably been really nice at some time, but it now stood in ruin, furniture and shelves fallen over with broken datapads decorating the floor.

"Pity. I really wanted to see a library that still had working datas," Skyshock said sadly. The Praxian library had burned completely to the ground, and the Protihexan library had been in the inaccessible section of the university.

"Maybe I c'n take ya t' the Iaconain Library. I think a few a' the datas survived the attack," Jazz offered, obviously wanting to impress his wing mate. He was rewarded with a bright smile and flashing red optics.

"I would be honored, Jazz," Skyshock claimed sincerely. Jazz was dazed a bit by the look in her optics—he wondered if there was a way to make that expression appear any time she looked at him—but he quickly recovered, not wanting his leader to see him falter.

"Then le's go," he stated, turning back toward the front door.

"Wait, we still have one more room," Skyshock exclaimed as she entered the room on the left. Prime's room. She eagerly took in her surrounding, even though they were rather dull. The berth was huge, but then again, Optimus Prime was apparently a large mech. The shelving unit held more holocubes, all of which Skyshock subspaced, and she subspaced the undamaged ones that had fallen to the ground. Unfortunately, everything else was gone or destroyed. There were at least five more holocubes that were shorted or burnt up, and there were plenty of jeweled items that had likely belonged to his mate. Not much to take to prime, but it was enough.

"Good. Le's go," Jazz said, trying to hurry her along. He had that feeling again, that they were being watched, and he really didn't want to fight in the prime's old housing unit. It seemed… dishonorable…

"Okay. Let's go. Lead the way, Jazz," the femme responded with a smile. She always loved how overprotective he was. It made her feel loved and safe in a way that she had not known until she met her second.

**/C'mon. The library's this way/**

As they left the housing unit, they didn't see the Cybertronian crouched down in the alleyway across from the housing unit, and they didn't know that the bot in question had been waiting for such two such bots to enter and leave the housing unit.

**::Commander, you were correct. Two seekers just went into prime's housing unit. They looted around a bit. I don't know what they were looking for, but I don't think they found it. They're headed west. I cannot see a third, so he's likely watching from up top::**

**::Can you tell their affiliation?::**

**::I can't say. One has red optics, one has blue. I'd have to see their third to know::**

**::Very well. Follow them. Be discreet, and do not give away your position. I'm sending backup just in case the third is huge::**

**::Acknowledged::**

* * *

Skyshock gasped in awe of the huge building before her. It, like the other buildings, was burnt and run-down, but it still held its majestic height, despite the fact that it looked quite like it was about to collapse. She took a single step toward the door then looked back at Jazz, who was smiling softly at her.

**/ Let's. **_**Explore**_**/** she said with wide, excited optics. Jazz gestured for her to lead the way, which was the only encouragement she needed. She dashed into the library, moving quickly through the open doorway. She didn't pay much attention to the lobby as she hurried through it to the door that led to the library. She rushed through the door, then froze when she caught sight of the actual library.

"Oh, Primus…" she breathed when she saw how broken down the inside was. Like the prime's library, shelves were broken and supporting each other. Most were completely fallen over, the bottoms of the shelves not able to survive the attacks. She whirred sadly as she approached the first shelf that was still upright. These had been the best sellers back in the early cycles of the war, and like the rest of the library, they were arranged by the archivist that published them, rather than the writer or title. She glanced at the titles on the sides of the datapads before subspacing the ones that looked interesting for her or one of her friends.

_Fighting the Good Fight: An Autobot Biography._

_True Beauty: Praxis Before the Fall._

_Catching a Mate._

_Art Before the War: Biography of Famous Artists._

She hummed lightly as she caught sight of one of the datas on the lower shelf. _Vos and Seekers: Seeker Culture and Traditions._ The one beside it was quite similar. _Seekers: Quirky, Cute, and Territorial._

"Huh…" she huffed to herself as she subspaced the two datapads. She knew they were both written from a grounder's point-of-view, but even just the smallest peek into seeker culture was a boon for her. It was why she had wanted to visit Vos so much: so that she could find datas on seeker culture… datas on her own culture…

"Skyshock, we need to leave," Jazz stated suddenly from beside her. She looked up and frowned. He was looking around anxiously, obviously sensing that something was off.

"Okay," she responded without hesitation. Jazz suddenly sprinted out of the library, and Skyshock, though surprised, followed not a kilk later, running just as quickly.

**::They're fleeing!::**

**::Do not engage until you receive backup::**

**::I refuse to let them get away::**

"Freeze!" the femme snapped as the two seekers rushed from the building. The seekess froze at the sight of the blue femme aiming such a large cannon at her. The mech, however, did not freeze at all.

"Move it!" he snapped as he shoved the seekess out of the line of fire. The mech pulled out a plasma pistol and without hesitation, started shooting. The blue femme instantly retaliated.

"Jazz!" Skyshock exclaimed as she watched her wing mate dodge the blasts. She took out her own plasma pistol to assist. Before she could get a shot off, a hand knocked the gun out of her grasp. She whirled around to face her attacker and was treated to a punch to the faceplates. She yelped as she stumbled back, but she quickly recovered, forcing herself to ignore the fuzziness of her left optic as she parried the fist strikes of a smaller, red femme.

Never before had she been she thankful of Blades' hand-to-hand lessons. Deflecting the blows the femme dealt was not easy, and Skyshock was certain her arms would be severely dented by the end of this fight, but she could at least say that she was holding her own. She grunted in pain when the femme caught her side in a roundhouse kick, stumbling a bit before dodging another blow.

"I'll give you this, you have great endurance," the femme said with a smirk. "Pity you joined the losing side."

"I don't plan on losing, slagger," Skyshock growled as she spun out of the way of another strike. As she faced the femme again, she used the momentum she had gained from the spin to whip her ponytail-like sensors around, dipping her head to keep them from hitting her face. She heard the femme hiss in pain and looked up to see that the speared tips of her sensor wires had slashed easily into the femme's chest plating, though she could tell that the gashes weren't deep. With a scowl, Skyshock charged up her sensors, delighting in the feel of electricity flaring through them. She was about to attack again when a single shot rang out with finality.

At first, all Skyshock could feel was the shock that came with a gunshot wound, the panic that made her processor freeze up for a single klik. Then her body went into overdrive, sharpening her senses as she gave an electronic scream of agony. Jazz was instantly by her side, dodging shots as he yanked her into his arms, pointedly ignoring her cry of pain when the movement jostled her injury.

"Get back here, you two cons!" the blue femme yelled as Jazz shot into the air, flying randomly to keep the sniper that had shot Skyshock from getting a lock on them. The mech seeker thrummed his engine loudly for his leader's comfort as he rushed out of Iacon and over the Sea of Light.

"Frag," Chromia cursed as she watched the two seekers flee the city. Firestar huffed as she knelt down to pick up the gun she had knocked from the seeker femme's hand.

"She had a good trainer, whoever she was," Firestar noted as she held a hand to her dripping chestplates and studied the gun with her other hand.

"Yeah. Good shot, Moonracer!" Chromia shouted to a nearby single-story building where Moonracer had settled herself for optimal sniping view.

"You weren't supposed to attack those two," the teal femme responded as she dropped down from the roof of the building, landing neatly in front of the blue femme.

"Elita will live with my decision, I'm sure," Chromia responded with an optic roll. Moonracer scowled.

"So you think. What if those two were neutrals, or worse yet, Autobots?"

"I doubt they're Autobots. The femme had red optics, and they're both seekers. They only know how to destroy. That's why they joined the Decepticon army," Chromia said flippantly as she took the gun from Firestar and studied it closely.

"If I recall, that was what they said about a certain femme and mech that worked in Megatron's Defense Force," Firestar interjected with a frown. Chromia stiffened, easily remembering the grief the Autobots gave her and Ironhide when they first joined the bots after fighting in Cybertron's Defense Force. Then she scowled and shook her helm.

"That was different," she claimed.

"And it doesn't matter anyways. They won't be coming back, whether they're allies or enemies," Firestar interjected.

"Yeah, cuz a' Moonracer's superior shooting," Chromia said with a grin, proud of the femme unit's gunner. Moonracer didn't respond, still watching as the two seekers disappeared on the horizon. She hoped to Primus they were Decepticons. Her musings were interrupted by a comm. from her commander.

**::Femmes, return to base. I have received a message from Metroplex and Prowl. We're going on a trip:: -Elita-One**

* * *

Meanwhile, two seekers made their way over the Sea of Light, one holding the other as he flew rather unsteadily. The femme was only partially conscious, still leaking energon at a rather high rate. The mech moved quickly, praying he would be fast enough to save his trine leader.

**/'M sorry, Sky. My fault. My fault. I'm sorry/** he whimpered over the bond, losses from a past life mixing with his current situation.

**/Not you. Me. Dropped defenses. Not you. Love. Devotion. Understanding. Love. No worries. Assurance. I'm okay. Love/**

**/I'm sorry. Love. Love. Love. Love. Forgive me. I'm sorry. Protect. Protect. Love. Protect/**

**/Safe. Love. Protect. Assurance. I'm okay. Ouch. Assurance. I'm okay/**

The bond remained flooded with such emotions as the mech carried her bridal style over the huge sea, not caring if anybot saw them. His leader had just been shot, and what worse, it had been a shot through her wing. There was no denying that a seeker's weakest point was their wings, mainly because when a wing got injured, it didn't stop hurting. Even now, wind ran over the bullet wound, sending the femme's pain receptors into a tizzy. On top of that, her wings were sending faulty data to her processor because the wind was going _through_ the wing rather than _over _and _around_ it, something that made her feel dizzy and disoriented.

**/Confusion. Lost. Concern. Lost. Terror. We're not going towards Praxis!/**

**/Confusion…/** Skyshock opened her optics and looked toward the city that was growing larger as they came closer. **/Protihex. Big building is University…/**

**/We have to call 'Aid. You're leaking too much. I don't know what to do!/**

**/Calm. Understanding. Okay. Call 'Aid. Tell him we're at the university. Ask him what to do/**

**::First Aid, Skyshock's dying!:: -Jazz**

**::Primus fraggin' Pit-spawn slagger! Where the frag are you two?! Hot Spot is **_**very**_** angry at you two!:: -First Aid**

**::Protihex. We're at the Mechanic's University. Skyshock's wing got shot, and I dunno what to do. What do I do?:: -Jazz**

**::Calm down. Go into the university and find a medbay. Do you remember what I taught you about first aid and field patches?:: -First Aid**

**::Y-yeah… Stop the leaking…?:: -Jazz**

**::Yes. Use a mesh patch to stop the leaking. We will be there soon. First Aid out:: -First Aid**

Jazz gave a high-pitched whine as he landed by the university and rushed into the side entrance. He hurried through the hallways, moving to the only room that stood out to him in his memory: the first room he ever saw, the room where he first saw his trine leader. He vented heavily as he stampeded into the room. He stopped and looked around swiftly, ignoring the offline bodies as he searched for a place to set his bleeding leader. He finally decided on the table that he woke up on so long ago. Skyshock whimpered as he settled her down on the cold metal table, further jostling the wound to her right wing.

"It's okay, Sky, baby. Imma fix ya up," Jazz promised as he moved around, looking in cabinets and sifting through drawers. "Ah!" he gasped with a grin when he found what he was looking for. He snatched up the thick mesh patches and hurried back to Skyshock's side. "This's gonna hurt, babe. Stay strong," Jazz warned. He then pressed the patches of soft metal firmly against both sides of the wound, whining at the screech of pain Skyshock gave.

**/Sorry. Sorry. Love. Sorry. Protect. Save. Sorry/**

**/Okay. Hurt. Love. Assurance/**

"Hello?" The two seekers froze at the sound of the small voice.

**/Who… was that?/**

**/I dunno. It wasn' me…/**

"Click?"

**/If it's clicking… it's gotta… be young…/**

**/Do you wanna take tha' chance, Sky?/**

Skyshock twitched when she felt the gentle tugging at her spark. She hummed as she weakly returned the tug. She whirred in surprise when she was inundated with emotions not her own.

**/Love. Love. Excitement. Curiosity. Who is this mech? Understanding. My superior. My second. Love. Love leader. Leader. Love. Excitement/**

"Jus' how old is this newbie?" Jazz mumbled as he felt the same flood of emotions.

"Sec'n'!" a small voice squeaked, and the two seekers looked down to see a post-sparkling youngling crawl from behind a table. His little purple wing nubs fluttered as he looked over at the two elder seekers, the two bots that were now his trine. He squeaked happily as he crawled over to his second and sat down contentedly beside the larger mech's pede. Jazz stared down at the mech, who stared back up at him with red optics filled with curiosity and love.

"Can you… pick him up? I don't want… him on this floor," Skyshock murmured.

"I can't take the pressure off ya wing, Sky. You've already los' so much en'rgon," Jazz responded with a frown.

"I can't see him."

"You'll live."

Skyshock scowled weakly at her second, hating that he was right and he knew it. She hated it when he used that smug tone. On the bright side, she was pretty sure that that meant he wasn't worried anymore, and if he wasn't worried, then she didn't need to be. Well, if she was in the clear, then she could see her new third. After all, he completed her trine, and as the leader, she needed to see to her trine mates. With a huffing vent, she let two of her sensory wires drop down from the table and wiggled them invitingly in the sparkling's direction. The youngling squeaked in confusion, giving into the invitation without a second thought. He squealed in joy when the wires suddenly wrapped around his waist and lifted him into the air. He kicked his little pedes and wiggled his winglets as he stared down at the ground, then he squealed with delight when the view of the ground was replaced with the view of his new trine leader.

"Leader!" he squeaked as she placed him over her spark. Skyshock smiled.

"My design… nation… is Skyshock… sweetspark," she responded gently.

"Sky!" he chirped happily. "Love you!"

"Aww, " Skyshock cooed dimly. "So sweet… What's your name?"

"Name?" the mechling repeated in confusion.

"Sky, 'e prob'ly don' 'ave one. When I was created, I didn' know mah name 'til s'me a' mah mem'ries came back."

"So… he may not… remember his name… for a few more cycles?"

"Maybe not. Le's give 'im 'is own name 'til we c'n 'ave 'Aid run 'is spark signature through the system."

"Right. A name…" she stared down at the mechling cuddling into her chest plating over her spark, purring in rhythm to the thrum. "Aerobatix."

"Aerobatix… Aero. I like it. It's a strong name fo' a seeker mech, an' it's only temporary anyways," Jazz said on a shrug, smiling down at the mechling when he pulled on the second's bond.

**::Jazz, I'm outside and following your spark signal. Stay where you are:: -First Aid**

Jazz didn't respond, deciding to wait for the medic to arrive. It wasn't a long wait. First Aid and Blades rushed into the room, and the medic immediately zeroed in on the injury. Jazz vaguely noticed Skyshock opening her chestplates slightly, then his optics widened when he saw the newly dubbed Aerobatix scamper into her carrying hold, something that she shouldn't even be using yet. Her chest plating closed again, and the second could only wonder how she had managed to do all that without somebot else noticing. Then again, First Aid was focused on her right wing, placing temp patches while the femme whimpered and yelped, and Blades had his back to them, scanning the room for possible threats. Obviously, Skyshock wanted to keep little Aerobatix a secret for the time being, but just how long could she keep the mechling a secret from the Protectobots?

"Okay, Blades, let's get her loaded up. Hot Spot and Prowl are going to be having some very serious words with you two. This is the last adventure you will take, you can be sure of that!" First Aid ranted, uncharacteristically angry (though that might have something to do with the puddle of Skyshock's energon he had had to walk through).

"It's okay. Got what we needed," Skyshock murmured, placing a single hand over her chestplates as First Aid lifted a needle to her arm. The needle was pressed into her main energon line, and she knew no more.

* * *

**Luna Uchiha666:** :) Fluffz galore! I luvs me some fluff. ^-^ Yeah… Prowl will have the time of his life trying to keep track of her, and what's worse, he's about to launch into space… Skyshock + Jazz + enclosed areas + boredom. You can do the math XD

**Trapezoidal: **XD That's what I love so much about Jazz. He seems like the type to comm. Prowl something like that. I friggin love writing Jazz, so it'll be interesting to work on his and Prowl's friendship through this. Yeah, Prowl's kind of a prick right now, but you'll understand soon enough. He has a reason to be. And Blue won't mind for long. :D

**Lovely Rain Dancer: **Oh, definitely. Especially with Skyshock. I think their personalities will mesh very nicely together, especially when she meets Sideswipe. ^-^

**Angel897:** Glad you liked it! I enjoyed writing it. All the fluff :)

**HanamiKaze:** Yeah, it was unwise, but Jazz isn't one to be deterred. And you have now met the third. :D Next chapter, you'll be introduced to him a little better.

**Thebookfan09:** Lol. I was like that with _A Little Burst of Sunlight_. I wrote up to three chapters a day on that one. Now, I'm lucky if I can get two chapters a month =_=''

I don't really talk in third person. Only when I'm typing. I couldn't tell you why, either… And I will use my laptop carefully, Jedi master. My old one will be going to my mom, so she can't steal mine anymore. :D

I won't really be focusing on the other bots too much (The story does focus on my little trine) but I wanted to flesh out the Autobot Earth forces a bit more. As you can see in this chapter, The femmes will be coming on the voyage. :)

Lynn is my frinemy. She is kinda possessive of her friends, so she doesn't really like me chatting with my other friends. In fact, she kinda hates Dylan simply because he's my other bestie. It's a crack!fic (one-shot), and I'm having so much fun writing it. XD And then my Bluestreak one-shot is moving along nicely, and I got my Megatron/OC one-shot that I'm working on, and a Bumblebee/OC one-shot that's coming to light, and then as small Starscream/Oc one-shot that snuck into my mind. Primus, SO MANY PLOT BUNNIES, AND I MUST CHASE THEM ALL!

I wanted to explore Met's personality a bit more anyways, simply because he was always such a vague character to me, even in the animated series. He was only in, what, three episodes? Four maybe? So Imma be putting in some more interactions with him, simply because I wanna turn him into a bot with personality rather than let him remain as the bot that houses everyone and stays to himself.

I luvs writin' the Sky/Jazz fluffz. X3

**Sunstreaker's Squishy: **You know, I actually considered it, but I needed Megatron elsewhere. Same with Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Soundwave, Ironhide, Prowl, Megatronus Prime, Shockwave, and about ten other characters. It's okay, though, cuz I finally settled on a mech to be our new little youngling. :)

**Kagekitsonegal:** Ah! Don't get caught! You'll end up with me, Sides, and Sunny in the brig! It's cold down here, and Sunny won't chut up about his finish! It's not worth it!

**Coolblast: **Prowl will chill soon enough. He has a reason to be so high strung. Y'all will understand soon enough :)

**Target Ninja: **Nope. I meant dour.

Dour: (adj) Severe or unfriendly; severe or gloomy, and unfriendly toward another

So I meant dour :) It's one of my new favorite words :D Well, the Royal Command Trine will certainly be showing up in my fic. Probably not for a long while, but they will make an appearance and be a rather vital part of the plot. XD Can't leave out my seekers!

* * *

**NOTE: THE NAME AEROBATIX BELONGS SOLELY TO ME. I WILL BE PISSED IF SOMEONE STEALS IT BECAUSE IT IS ORIGINAL, AND IT IS MINE. **

***rant over***

You will find out who's spark has been revitalized in Aerobatix next chapter. Prepare to be amazed!


	8. 6: Worriers

1) Geez, has it really been a month? Well, I feel like a bad person... *Stands in Bad Writer's Corner of DOOM* Anywho, I'm sorry for the late update. On top of my school, work, and sudden obsession with my new Megatron ficlet, I found a huge plot hole in this story while I was looking over my primary plot outline. What does this mean? It means I had to spend a lot of my freetime overhauling the outline of this fic, and for those of you who don't know, I spend at least two months working the kinks out of fic before I actually start writing and publishing them. hence, the month-long wait. On the bright side, though, this means that Sunstreaker will be appearing a lot earlier than projected. Rather than waiting another ten or so chapters, you will be meeting him in about two or three (exciting, right?) So... yeah. :)

2) I didn't edit this... Like at all. Once again, I shall sulk in the Bad Writer's Corner of DOOM... I just didn't feel like rereading it for some reason...

3) Nothing else, really... Go check out my Megatron story if you haven't already. It's edgy (to me) and I'm rather proud of it. Go look and drop me a review! You will not regret it

* * *

Chapter 6

Worriers

4,577 words

* * *

"-Not only irresponsible, but extremely dangerous."

"Uh-huh."

"And aside from that, you could have brought the Decepticons to our location, even given them the opportunity to set a trap for us! Would you have been so easy-going if a 'con had a gun pressed against your helm while telling you _just what_ he was going to do to your teammates?"

"I go' no idea."

"See, that is why you two need to _process _before you act. Honestly, you two could be offline right now because of your stupidity!"

"Yup. Got'cha."

"Jazz, are you even listening to me?!"

"Hones'ly, Spot, no. I can't feel Sky…"

"Skyshock is fine. She is merely offline at the moment."

"I know, bu' I can't _feel_ her. It jus' feels weird."

Hot Spot sighed as he looked at the seeker in front of him, a mech who was only a few orns away from being classified as an adult. It was ironic that he still didn't act like one, if his and Skyshock's stunt was anything to go by. The femme was still in the medbay, recovering from the shot to her wing, while he scolded Jazz. In honesty, Hot Spot kind of wished Prowl was here. The copbot was far better at dishing out lectures and punishment, but alas, the Autobot SiC was still at the meeting point in border-town Praxis-Protihex, waiting for the Autobots that had taken up on his first meeting-place offer. In fact, the mech should be heading back about now.

"Well, I guess you can go. Primus knows you won't listen while trying to hear your leader through your bond," the Protectobot leader said on a sigh. Jazz grinned as he leapt to his pedes and dashed out of the room. Hot Spot only sighed and shook his helm with a small smile. His team was the same way. When one of them was hurt, they only focused on that bond, waiting in fear and anxiety for the other mech to register. It was the same with all gesalts, he supposed. They all worried about the others, even if only on a small level. Hot Spot smiled as he sat back in his chair. He certainly had a strange team, a strange family. Once again, though, all gesalts seemed to be made up of strange mechs, though he was lucky not to have the same jokers that other leaders had to deal with, like Silverbolt. Then again, trying to control Blades was hard enough. Maybe he had not been given such pranksters because Primus knew he would have enough trouble dealing with his psychopathic younger sibling.

**/I heard that, slagger. If you're going to insult me, have the decency to block the bond. Fragger./** Hot Spot grinned at Blades' pouty message and prodded him through their gesalt bond, sending his brotherly love along with a sense of teasing. They may be weird, but he couldn't ask for a better gesalt.

* * *

"-Don't quite know how it happened, but then he was mad, which made me scared, because Blades is very scary when he's mad, but you already know that because you make him mad all the time, which you should stop doing. They really care about us, but I guess I can understand because you always _did_ like bending rules—though most of the time, you actually break them—but I know you're a free spark, cuz I've known you for so long, and I saw that every klik of every breem of every joor of every cycle, and…"

Blaster stared in utter fascination as the soon-to-be adult chattered endlessly to the femme on the table beside him. The words were meaningless for the most part and came out in a never-ending stream with a speed that would make Blur envious. First Aid had first let the youngling in a few breems ago when he had claimed to have had a bad dream about Skyshock getting hurt. Of course, the youngling had tried Skyshock's room first, and she hadn't been there, so he thought First Aid would know. It was that moment when the youngling saw past First Aid and into the medbay where Skyshock currently recharged. Doorwings rose in horror, and the smaller Praxian burst into the room and scurried over to his long-time best friend's side without even asking. First Aid took it in stride, giving only a long-suffering sigh before moving back to Skyshock's injured wing to complete his work.

That was when Blaster woke up. At first, he had thought the prattling mech was Prowl, seeing as the youngling looked almost identical to him, but then he saw how different the paint job was… and Prowl didn't speak _that_ much. Blaster took time to survey his surroundings at that point, gazing in confusion at the unfamiliar medbay, then he caught sight of First Aid, who was fussing over what appeared to be a… seeker?

"First Aid?" the cassette deck murmured, mildly irritated that his voice would not rise above a whisper. His vocal processors simply wouldn't allow it. Luckily, the soft-spoken medic easily heard him and turned to face him.

"Ah, I see you have decided to rejoin the living, Blaster," the medic stated as he moved back to his side, poking and prodding the red mech's chest plating to check the new welds.

"Yeah… who's tha'?" Blaster questioned as he gazed over at the bot on the berth across from his. First Aid glanced over at the unconscious bot before looking back down at Blaster.

"That is Bluestreak. He's a survivor of the attack on Praxus, and the femme on the berth is Skyshock. She was injured during a… well, an unplanned trip to Iacon," First Aid responded.

"She?" Blaster repeated dumbly, looking confused and curious at the same time.

"Yes. Her age places her birth after the genocide, but before the ejection of the Allspark."

"An' she's a seekess?"

"Yes, she is a seekess."

"An' 'er trine is…?"

First Aid was about to answer his question, but said question was answered by a door slamming open and a silver mech rushing up to Skyshock's berth.

"Sky? Skyshock?" the seeker mech murmured in a nervous voice as he shifted from pede to pede while staring down at his leader.

"Jazz, she is in recharge," First Aid called out, causing Jazz to snap his helm in the medic's direction as if he had not realized that they were present in the room before. The silver mech whined at that statement and raised his visor as he looked back at his leader, glancing only fleetingly at the now-silent Bluestreak, whose hand was tangled in the femme's sensory wires.

"Skyshock," he murmured, ignoring First Aid's medical observation and Bluestreak's presence completely as he turned his attention to the task of waking his leader.

"Jazz…?" Blaster repeated slowly, giving First Aid a look that questioned his sanity. The medic sighed as he looked back down at the cassette.

"Yes. Jazz died while on the mission to retrieve the Allspark. We have proof that the mech you see over there is Jazz's spark replaced by Primus," First Aid explained lowly, not wanting Jazz to enter their conversation while he was fretting over his leader. In reality, First Aid was kind of curious if Jazz's presence would somehow affect her healing rate. There had been no apparent changes with Bluestreak's presence, but Bluestreak did not hold the same type of sparkbond with her as Jazz did.

"So this mech don' know meh at all?" Blaster asked with a frown, easily recognizing some of the features the new bot held that would distinguish him as Jazz, the Autobot TiC: the visor, wing-shaped horns, and paint job in particular. First Aid shook his helm.

"No, but his personality remains. His preferences and ideals are no different from that of the last Jazz," the medic stated with a friendly smile.

"So if I wanted t' be frien's wit' 'im…"

"He would likely be open to it," First Aid finished for him. Blaster grinned at this, happy that even if his friend died on another planet, he could still uphold that friendship with this new mech. He dropped into thought as First Aid moved back to stand beside the femme. "Jazz, why don't you go keep Blaster company while I attend to Skyshock? I need to give her one last full-systems scan before letting her leave. Blue, why don't you go to the rec room and refuel? Sky should be online by the time you get back."

"I… I guess so..." Jazz responded hesitantly as he left his leader's side to stand by the tape deck. Bluestreak glanced down at Skyshock one last time before scurrying out the door. Blaster grinned at the retreating mech before looking up at Jazz, but that grin quickly became a scowl when he realized that Jazz wasn't even looking at him. His blue optics were focused solely on his trine leader.

"Yo, mech," Blaster called to the mech standing at his side. Jazz jolted a bit before hesitantly turning his optics to the mech that requested his attention.

"'Sup?" Jazz responded absently, attention still on his bond with Skyshock. Blaster fought back a grimace, never one to be ignored, then he grinned. A klik later, an electronic melody filled the room from Blaster's external speakers. Jazz jolted and looked at Blaster with wide optics as he listened to the upbeat music.

"It's called 'Sky Break' by Songstress. We used ta dance t' this song all the time at the Helix Twis' Club," Blaster stated. Jazz frowned as he offlined his optics, allowing the beat to wash over him. His frown slowly turned to a grin as he started bobbing his helm in time with the beat.

"Tha' was where I met tha' psycho femme tha' thought she loved meh," Jazz noted as the distant memory of a yellow and orange femme flitted through his processor. Pombase had been her name, and she had followed him for a few cycles without his knowledge before she had built up the courage to approach him and proclaim her undying love for him. Needless to say, he had turned her down, gently at first, before fleeing the scene and moving to a new housing unit after procuring a restraining order against the persistent femme.

"Now, how is it tha' you c'n r'member tha' crazy glitch, but ya can't r'member meh?" Blaster asked with a grin. Jazz returned the grin with his own wry one.

"Guess she left mo'e of a 'mpression," the seeker responded lightly. Blaster snorted.

"I doubt anybot left mo'e of a 'mpression than meh. _B'lieve meh,_ mech," Blaster claimed. Jazz was about to reply when First Aid let out a wordless sound of anger, followed quickly by an angered shout of "Jazz, get over here!"

"I didn't do it," the seeker defended immediately as he moved to First Aid's side, not even completely sure what had the medic so infuriated. First Aid rarely raised his voice, so the mech was fairly certain that whatever it was was bad.

"So you didn't know that Skyshock had a sparkling in her hold?" the medic demanded. Jazz winced.

"Okay… maybe I ain't as innocent as I thought…"

"Explain. I want to know where the sparkling came from, and it better be the truth, mechling," the medic said firmly. "And Hot Spot is on his way."

"Frag. Well, first off, it ain't what ya think," Jazz began hesitantly.

"Oh, really? Explain."

"Well, when we wen' back ta Protihex, 'e kinda jus'… appeared, an' Sky refused ta let 'im stay on the ground, so she put 'im in 'er hold."

"I see. Well, I need to get him out, and her sparkling protocols have been activated by the presence of a sparkling in her hold. Seeing as her frame was damaged in a way that left her no means of escape, protective protocols have come online, which means that she isn't going to open her chassis unless she's online."

"So…?" Jazz prompted tentatively, not really sure he liked where this was going. His first thoughts were of First Aid sending him outside while brandishing a prytool of some sort. Then his processor supplied him with the image of First Aid grinning over her rather intently as he attempted to yank open her chest plating.

"So, I will need you to hold open her chest plating while I get the sparkling from her hold," First Aid stated, pulling the younger mech from his thoughts. Jazz frowned, giving his trine leader an uneasy look.

"I don't think tha's a good idea, 'Aid," he said slowly. First Aid frowned at this.

"Why?" he responded with a frown. Jazz gave his leader a pained look.

"Cuz she's the leader…" he replied, as if that explained everything.

"Yes, well, your leader has hidden a sparkling in her hold, and I have no way of knowing if there is anything wrong with that sparkling, and on top of that, if he appeared in Protihex, he's probably another dead bot come back to life," First Aid stated. Jazz grimaced as he moved to his leader's side.

"Well… lemme see if I c'n get her to cooperate through the bond, cuz I don' think she'd 'ppreciate wakin' up to you pullin' 'er new third fr'm 'er hold," Jazz relented, grimacing as he strode to his leader's side.

**/Sky… Skyshock?/**

There was no reply, which gained another pained look from the second. He vented heavily as he hopped up onto the berth where she lay and hesitantly leaned over her chest plating. He poked at the nearly invisible seam that held the armored plating closed, as if that would make her chest plates open easily.

**/Sky?/** he repeated. He waited for a reply, and when he didn't receive one, he flooded the bond with energy and worry. Skyshock's bond flared momentarily, but it was enough for Jazz to get his intention across. Skyshock gave a mental groan as she allowed the miniscule latches on her chest plating to unhook, and she had just opened her sparkling hold when she dropped back offline again. Jazz vented a sigh of relief as he reached into his leader's hold awkwardly. He was careful not to let his hand brush anything (Primus forbid), and he pointedly avoided looking at her bright spark as he pulled out a snoozing Aerobatix by his scruff bar.

"'Ey, Aero," he cooed. The purple winged mechling lazily onlined his optics and looked up at his second. The mechlet gave the elder a languid smile before chirping at him. Jazz grinned down at him as he held the little mech against his chassis, just over his spark. Aero, for his part, purred contentedly as he cuddled up to his trinemate's chest plating, more than ready to fall back offline for a few kliks.

"A youngling of his age should be able to stay awake," First Aid said with a concerned frown as he peered down at the snoozing seekling.

"Not a seeklet, though," Jazz responded. "When me 'n Sky was younglin's, I always felt tired whenevuh she fell offline. It's part of the bond. Aero's too young to counteract it an' stay awake."

"'Aero?'" First Aid repeated as he moved forward to examine the sparkling further. Jazz nodded as he watched the medibot scan his third.

"Yeah. Aerobatix. We figured 'e needed a name, since we didn' really know what 'is was," Jazz claimed with a shrug.

"Well, if you will give me a klik, I can run his spark signature through the systems," First Aid said as he ran a deep scan over the mechling's helm, taking in data of his processor structure. He could scan the mechling's processor development later. "Turn him so that he faces me," the medibot ordered gently. Jazz silently obeyed, grinning when Aero gave a weak whine of disapproval. The little mechling's red optics onlined, and Jazz laughed out loud when Aero gave First Aid a rather irritably put-out glare. Aero squeaked at the sound of his second's laughter and twisted in Jazz's hands in an attempt to look up at him.

"Jass?" Aerobatix squeaked, gaining a smile and an affectionate nudge through their bond in response. First Aid, noticing the youngest mech's waning attention span, swiftly took his scans, logging the spark signature and superficial frame measurements once he finished.

"Wha'choo lookin' at, li'l mech?" Jazz asked in a playful voice as he held Aero up to his helm.

"Jass!" Aero chirped.

"Me?" Jazz questioned. "You lookin' at meh?" Aero let out a peal of giggles when Jazz blew warm air onto his frame from the two vents hidden beneath his cheek plates.

"Jazz, I'm running the spark signature as we speak. I should have some answers in a few kliks," First Aid stated as he moved toward the large computer monitor at the front of the bay. Jazz didn't even look up at him as he responded with an easy, "Whateva."

"Jass, Jass, Jass!" Aerobatix chirped, optics dimming slightly as he fought against the recharge that wanted to offline his systems. He didn't feel like recharging; he wanted to play!

"Cute li'l slagger, ain' 'e?" Blaster called out, gaining both Jazz's and Aero's attention. The sparkling, for his part, looked rather confused by this new mech. He had been there all along, or had he just appeared? Aero couldn't remember seeing him there, so that meant he just appeared, right?

"Yep," Jazz agreed with a grin as he walked over to Blaster's berth, putting an extra bounce in his steps to make his third giggle and shriek. "Blastuh, meet Aerobatix, mah younges' trine mate, an' Aero, meet Blastuh, a random mech we found."

"B'ass!" Aero repeated joyfully. Blaster grinned at the mechling.

"'Ey there, li'l mech," Blaster greeted.

"Sky?" said mechling questioned, looking up at Jazz quizzically.

"Nope. You're stuck with meh fo' now," Jazz responded. Aero looked confused by that statement. Obviously, Jazz didn't understand that Aero wanted his leader to hold him right that moment. Aero's little face screwed up in distress at that thought. Did Jazz not understand him like a second was supposed to? He was prepping up for the first tantrum he had ever thrown when a feeling of deep contentment and love floated through the bond from his mech trinemate.

"Jass…" he purred as he went limp against the mech's chest plating. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to stay with Jazz for a few more moments. The silver mech in question chuckled at the little one, amused by how easily he was swayed.

"Fraggin' Primus-forsaken seeker trine!" First Aid suddenly burst out suddenly, shoving himself away from the computer furiously as he turned to glare at Jazz. "Of all the mechs!" Jazz blinked at him in confusion, then glanced down at a startled Aero before returning his bemused gaze back to the usually gentle medic.

"Who—" Jazz's question was cut off by the _hiss_ of the medbay doors opening. Jazz grimaced as he turned to face Hot Spot… only it wasn't Hot Spot that had just entered the medbay.

"Decepticons!" the familiar blue femme cried as she pulled out her gun. Jazz acted swiftly. Aerobatix was placed in his sparkling hold before he even thought about it, and his gun was in his hand as he rushed over to stand in front of his injured leader.

"No!" First Aid shouted as he jumped in between the two opposing bots, but Chromia had already squeezed off a shot, which flew past the two defending mechs and slammed into one of the two monitors that was hooked into Skyshock's systems.

"Sky!" Jazz cried out, horror and fear for his leader's safety shooting through his systems. Skyshock, no longer held under by the forced stasis that the now destroyed monitor had regulated, jolted online from the fear flowing through the bond and quickly assessed the situation. In her recharge-hazed state, her processor couldn't connect the dots quite like they should, and a klik later, she was on her pedes in front of Jazz, gun primed. She raised her gun to defend them from the attacking femmes when a familiar curt voice broke through the tense medbay.

"Cease fire!" Prowl snapped furiously as he shoved past Chromia to enter the 'bay. His cold, blue optics flicked around the scene, and he scowled when they landed on Skyshock, whose wing was leaking slightly due to broken welds. She was swayed slightly on her pedes, and her optics were extremely dim. "First Aid, attend to Skyshock," he ordered brusquely. First Aid nodded and started leading a compliant Skyshock back to her berth while Prowl turned to address an irate-looking rosy pink femme. "Elita, you will control your subordinates, or they will spend the duration of this trip in the brig. I will not have infighting when I am in command. We are not Decepticons."

"She has red optics! They attacked us in Iacon!" Chromia shouted.

"You liar!" Jazz snapped, taking a threatening step forward. "You shot at us while we were leaving the library! We didn't do _nothing_ to you!"

"Your femme did this to Firestar!" Chromia retorted, yanking the orange femme forward to reveal her recently patched chest plating.

"She punched Sky first! It was self-defense!"

"You slaggin'—"

"Jazz?" Skyshock's panicky shout cut off Chromia's colorful response, and all attention turned to the seekess, who was fighting First Aid's hands as she tried to sit up. "Jazz, where's Aero? Aero's not in my hold," she asked in a frightened voice. Jazz's attention turned to focus solely on the bond and his leader.

"He's fine, Sky. He's with me. Calm down, swee'spark," he crooned as he moved to her side. He pulled a pouty Aerobatix from his hold and held him out to his leader, who scooped up the sparkling and held him to her chest plating with a sigh of relief. Aero, for his part, was delighted to be cuddled by his leader again and made his delight known through a low purr that rolled from his chest as he nuzzled the warm plating he was held against.

"A sparkling…?" Elita breathed at the same time Chromia murmured, "Jazz?"

"First Aid, once you finish with Skyshock, perform basic system checkups on the femmes. You may schedule more in-depth scans and maintenance checkups later. Elita, I will brief you once First Aid is finished with you, and you may brief your femmes as you see necessary. First Aid… please explain the sparkling…" Prowl ordered, hesitating a bit on the last sentence, not quite sure if he really wanted the answer. The last time Skyshock came in contact with an errant youngling in Protihex, it turned out to be his best friend brought back. He shuddered to think of who this new sparkling was.

"Well… that's actually a rather interesting bit of data, Prowl… As it turns out, the sparkling is—"

"First Aid, I'm back! I ran into Hot Spot on the way here, and he said that he was headed this way, too, so I asked him I could walk with him, and he told me I could, and…" Bluestreak trailed off as he came into view, optics widening at the sight of the five femmes in the medbay. Hot Spot, who had been walking behind him with a small amused smile, frowned as he came to a stop in the medbay entrance.

"I suppose this means somebot answered your summonings, Prowl?" the Protectibot leader questioned. The SiC nodded evenly.

"Hot Spot, meet Elita-One, leader of the fembot unit. Elita-One, meet Hot Spot, leader of the Protectibot unit." Hot Spot raised his spark signature in greeting, an action that was mirrored by Elita, but his attention then turned to the bots that were located further in the room.

"How is Skyshock recovering, First Aid?" the leader questioned as he moved past the crowd, a hesitant Bluestreak trailing after him.

"She would be far better off if she would stop making sudden movements," the medibot grumbled. "I replaced the broken optic, and repaired the minor abrasions and dents. Her wing was shot straight through, so that will take a bit more time to heal. For the moment and probably for the rest of the orn, she'll be grounded."

"Frag," was Hot Spot's response.

"My processes exactly. We'll have to find a way to simulate flight for her to stave off the skylust, assuming the rumors about seekers are true," First Aid noted as he glanced over at the bots crowding the entrance to the medbay.

"Am I in trouble?" Skyshock asked slowly as she forced her optics online to look up at the mech that was her recognized authority. Hot Spot gave her that gentle, forgiving smile that she secretly adored. It was the smile of an opiluk, a smile that she had yearned for for vorns until she was found by First Aid.

"I think you have dealt with enough for now. Your wing is severely damaged," he stated.

"I know, but I had to protect Jazz… some femme attacked us… she called us decepticons…" Skyshock looked up at Hot Spot with optics that were hazy with painkillers, yet still filled with fear and worry. "Are all Autobots gonna hate me 'cuz of my optics?"

"I… I cannot say, Sky. Rest for now. Jazz is going to tell me about the little mech you two found."

"Aero?" she asked lazily, glancing down at the sparkling that had dropped into recharge on her chest plating, unable to stay awake due to the sedatives that were flowing through his leader's systems. She gave a languid smile as she returned her military reds back to Hot Spot. "'E's mah third, 'Spot. I got a trine…" With that said, Skyshock's optics offlined. There was silence in the medbay was the bots watched the injured femme recharge, a single hand covering the sparkling on her chest plating. Bluestreak, who had been hanging back by Prowl, took that moment to scurry up to his best friend's side and take ahold of three of her sensory wires.

"I don't understand," Elita stated, finally breaking the silence.

"We found Skyshock and Bluestreak here a few vorns ago. Sky shot a Decepticon that planned on killing First Aid, our medic," Hot Spot stated, gesturing over at the red and white visored medibot that was working intently on Skyshock's wing. "She was injured in the process, and we brought her back here after retrieving her friend, Bluestreak." The doorwinger jolted when his name was mentioned the second time and pointedly ignored the stares her received. His fluttering doorwings showed his nerves at being stared at, though.

"It is a long story from there, one that would be better suited for a conference room rather than a medbay," Prowl interjected.

"Yes. Now, 'Aid, I am certain you called me here because of that sparkling, so perhaps you can appease my curiosity. Is Aero another reinstated mech, or is he actually femme-sparked?" Hot Spot questioned, ignoring the confused looks the femmes were passing around. First Aid seemed to wilt a bit at this question.

"Well, on the bright side, the mech appears to be one that had offlined a long time ago, long before the war even began…" First Aid began with a grimace.

"But the bad news…?" Hot Spot prodded.

"Well… let's just say that Optimus doesn't have to worry too much about sparking an heir to the primeship… Aerobatix appears to hold the reinstated spark of Vector Prime."

* * *

**Bee4ever: **Glad you like it :)

**Suki-Angel91494: **Lol. Nope. Mirage ain't dead. Heck, he was in the last chapter. Well, the one before last. ;) Thank you for the compliments, though. The reunion here isn't too intense, but it will be once Skyshot is lucid and stuffs. ;D

**HanamiKaze: **I can't believe the last time I updated this was just before Christmas… *Stands in the Bad Writer Corner of DOOM*

**Lovely Rain Dancer: **Eh heh heh… I think "mistake" might be an understatement. Next few chapters will be pretty interesting in how the femmes all deal with each other… Let the angst begin.

**Angel897: **Not too intense with this chapter. Next chapter will cover more deeply how the trine interactions with the femmes are tense and stuffs… ;)

**Dracomancer6491: **Lol. Jazz has a harder time than Sky does. She gets to snooze through the whole thing. XD

**Kagekitsonegal: **Ah, but Prowl has a battle computer that can trump even Jazx. *Watches as impenetrable forcefield drops over Kagekitsonegal, compliments of Trailbreaker* See? I have found that challenging Prowl is unwise. Right, Sides?

And yeah… Chromia's being a bit of a glitch, but can ya blame her?

**Ninja-of-twilight:** Sunny won't be in for a few more chapters. I want to finish cementing the current relationships I have before I throw Sunny into the mix. It won't be long, though. I believe I have him slated to come in in two more chapters… I think? I'd have to go back over my outline. :)

**Sunstreaker's Squishy: **I never said he was a seeker before he died, though… Jazz wasn't a seeker in his previous life. But I knew none of y'all would be able to guess Vector. I chose him on purpose, though. ;) And hey! You have a pic of Sunny as your profile picture now! Bravo! XD

**Thebookfan09: ** Eh…. Not really fireworks, but something like it, right? Next chapter should go into the developing relationship between Sky and the femmes. It will be… angsty, to say the least. And I never forgot about my Megatron story. I just had to figure out how to properly start it. Once I got the first couple of paragraphs down, the rest of the story id a piece of oil cake. ;D

Met will be in the next chapter. Promise ;)

Not too much of a stunner, no? I mean y'all already knew who it wasn't, so figuring out who Aero _was_ couldn't have been that hard ;)

**NarnianOpal: **I think I fixed the mistake. I'll have to go back again and make sure. Haven't looked at this fic in forever =_=;

**Chistarpax: **Lol. Not too much trouble yet. Next chapter will talk more about the situation though, and it won't be as hectic.

**Luna Uchiha666: **Eh heh… yeah… the next chapter will be interesting just for that reason. Seekers have to be free. They have to fly… or else madness sets in…

**MaKayla McKinzie: **Nope. Primus, no. That would mean that Sunny died, which means that Sideswipe would die, by extension. Nope, Sunstreaker is very much alive. Besides, he would be tainted by the feelings through the bond, and I'm not gonna have my OC flirt with a youngling. Awkward…

**Mrs. Knockout: **Hey, hey! :D How's life? ;)

Ya know, I was really close to making Ironhide the third, as well as Starscream, but (1) the third movie hasn't and likely will not happen, and (2) I need both of them for the plot later. You'll understand once Metroplex and the surviving Autobots make it to Earth *nod nod*

It's the opposite for me. I can only ever see Prowl as the hardaft Second in Command that takes no slag from anybot and glitches when illogical things happen.

And thank you! I always told myself that if I had a mech seeker main character OC, I would name him Aerobatix. It's only a cover name in this one, but still. I love my Aero :3

**Trapezoidal:** Thank you! Aero was actually created when I was in the eighth grade, shortly after TF:2007 Bayverse came out. *Sigh* He was my first Transformers OC. He was a Gary-Stu, but I revamped his personality and made him into the bot he is today. Needless to say, he holds a special place in my heart.

**Flamingfoxviper: **Lol. I think all seekers are weird and funny… especially when I'm writing them. XD

**PaDiYaFLAME: **Glad you like it! :D

* * *

Sooo... How many were surprised by Aero's identity? Everyone? Yup, Vector Prime had red optics and purple armor in his days. In case you didn't know, Vector Prime was featured in one of my other one-shots "_Need You Now"_, and I kind of fell in love with his character a bit. He is rumored to be able to travel across time, and it is said that he moonlights as the famous barowner Maccada, who has never been seen before, but has the greatest known high grade brew in the galaxy. He serves everyone, not caring if they are Autobot or Decepticon, and it was said that Maccadam's Oil House was the only place that 'Bots and 'Cons alike would put down their rifles and get along. Then he disappeared and Maccadam's was destroyed by a Decepticon raid on Iacon. Sad day, right? :\

And... this chapter bugged me for some reason. Felt like I was searching for an apple in an orange tree, if you catch my meaning. next one shall be fabulous, though, and should come fairly soon, I hope. All my teachers bar one give me droves of homework, so I dunno how soon "soon" is. :\

Review, my friends!


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